


A taste of Royalty

by MissMedussa



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Asshole Thranduil, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Love/Hate, Slow Burn, Smut, Sometimes he is nice though, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-07 05:43:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3163397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMedussa/pseuds/MissMedussa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After living in Lake-Town all of your life,  your world is turned upside down when your home is destroyed in a sea of flames.</p><p>From then on your life changes, but not always for the better. What happens when you catch the eye of King Thranduil himself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is based partially on the last Hobbit movie, but as of the second chapter it will have basically nothing to do with the movie :) 
> 
>  
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoy it.
> 
> Readers guide :
> 
> F/N = your first name
> 
> H/C = your hair colour
> 
> H/L = your hair length
> 
> E/C = your eye colour

Lake-Town had never been a place that you were particularly fond of. Athough it was where you were born and lived out the first eighteen years of your life, it was safe to say you despised the place.  
You hated how each crooked, smoke stained building loomed menacingly together so that the sunlight always struggled to break through.  
You hated the fact that even though Lake-Town was always busy with traders, nothing of excitement or interest ever appeared to happened here.  
The worst part for you was thinking that this was all your life was ever going to amount to, living in poverty and repeating the same routines from sunrise to sunset.

You had often dreamed about travelling, there were so many places that you had heard of from the captivating tales of experienced travellers. Every part of you ached to go and explore these places, to meet Elves, Dwarves and Wizards, but you knew it was not to be while you remained here.

From a young age you had been told of your duty, your father had made it very clear that you would be married off to a local tradesman and become a respectable wife and mother. The thought of that becoming a reality made you shudder in disgust. You needed excitement and adventure, not a loveless marriage.

So when the town was called upon one day by a group of Dwarves who spoke of a dangerous quest to rid the lonely Mountain of the powerful Dragon Smaug, you were immediately seduced by their tale and bravery.

The feeling of excitement was new for you and honestly you were not sure why their quest thrilled you so when you knew you would be no part of it. Perhaps it was the obvious danger that surrounded every detail of their task and that at any moment the town could be destroyed in a sea of blazing dragon fire.

You had been preparing dinner for your family when you learned the news that Smaug had descended from the mountain and was heading for Lake-Town in a murderous fury.  
Nothing could have prepared you for the hysteria that broke out in the streets like a plague that spread until everyone was infected. People rushed for boats and pushed, pulled and gouged at each other to get on one. Human decency was no longer present here, it was each man for himself. The wait for the beast to arrive if counted in real time would have been mere minutes, but for every man, woman and child that inhabited the town, it was an eternity. Taking your younger brother by his fragile and shaking hand, you lead him outside your front door and gazed up at the sky to get a glimpse of just what you were dealing with. The dreaded anticipation caused your heart to pound dangerously fast in your chest, your breathing became laboured and your vision almost clouded entirely from the fear. The first sight you saw was not of the creature itself, but in fact it's vast and dark shadow that covered the town like a heavy and suffocating blanket of which there was no escape. From that first sighting the fate of the town had been sealed, there was to be no more light in Lake-Town and the day would forever remain in it's history as a black mark, the day many lost their homes and their lives. When the first surge of Smaug's rage hit the town the streets beside your home were engulfed in a wave of luminosity. At first you stayed frozen to the spot as you watched with horror as people fled screaming, clutching their loved ones to their sides, but quickly you snapped out of the terrified trance and decided to act. You scrambled onto a small fishing raft with your younger brother, who sobbed hysterically into your tattered grey dress. As much as it pained you, it was clear that you were going to have to leave without your parents as they had not returned home and you had no idea where they would be.

The restless sea of fire devoured everything in it's path, taking all that you once knew and pulling it into a blazing inferno. Buildings looked like ghostly silhouettes that were charred down to their basic bones, people you had lived alongside for years, now floated lifeless on top of the water, their complexion fading to a grisly porcelain white as their life drained from them completely. As much as you had despised this town you had never wanted to watch it burn, to witness horrific deaths and to hear the helpless screams of its citizens in their final moments.

Fighting back the tears you maneuvered your raft through the debris filled streets,avoiding the paths of fire and the smoldering embers that fell from the sky like rain. An intense heat clung to your face and a thick smoke began to fill your lungs as the walls of flames became thicker, but thankfully you could see the vast expanse of the lake just ahead.

Once you were clear of the destruction that raged on behind you the magnitude of what had just happened finally dawned on you in full force. No doubt your parents were one of many who now lay dead in the ten minutes that it took Smaug to destroy all that you had ever known.  
There was nothing left here but misery and death, so you followed the boats filled with sorrowful townspeople out of the sinister orange glow and towards the shore.

Once on land things did not improve, the chaos ensued as distraught family members searched desperately in the crowds for their loved ones.  
Even the few possessions that people had managed to salvage and take with them were under siege from others who now felt that there were no rules. Everything and anything was for the taking.

Grabbing your frightened brothers hands you frantically lead him through the manic crowds in hope to find some form of refuge . It pained you to see the horrified expression that clung to his young face as he watched neighbors and friends fight over blankets and clothing.

The idea of not knowing where your life path was heading now should have excited you, after all you had always lusted after adventure, but you had never wanted your new life to start on the base this sinister.  
The sleepy existence you had left behind in Lake-Town had never prepared you for this and now your own brothers existence rested on every decision you make from now on, you were terrified.

Just as you thought all hope was lost, the large swarm of people behind you began to chant and cheer.  
The sudden change in their attitude surprised you and you decided to go and investigate the cause of their excitement.  
Clutching your young brother tightly to your side, you pushed against the heaving crowd and made your way into the center of the commotion.

" The dragon has been slain!!" A man to your far left cried out.

" Bard did it, he slayed the dragon, I saw it with my own eyes!"

Bard had not been a man that you had socialised with much when you lived in the town, he was a loner and known to be some what of an odd ball. It amazed you that the dragon had met its ends by the hand of a man and one that so many had dismissed and ignored in their daily lives.

After learning what Bard had accomplished it gave the towns people a new lease of life and they looked at him as the new leader that they desperately needed.  
He hesitantly accepted his new role and told the towns people to look towards the mountain for help. Before their quest, the dwarves had promised the people of Lake-Town a share of the vast wealth that dwelled within the mountain and Bard believed it was time to claim what was promised.

You were unsure that this was the right move for you and your brother, but at the same time safety in numbers seemed to be the most responsible option.  
You had heard of what lingered in these hills, orcs were being spotted more frequently and were travelling in large packs. You did not want to stumble across one alone.

The journey to the mountain was a hard one, there was barely any food to go around the starving people and it was beginning to take it's toll. You had survived many times without food during your life as your father had, in the last few years, preferred to spend the money he earned on alcohol rather than feeding his family. This was different though, you were physically and emotionally drained. Never had you felt so weak in all of your life.

When at last the mountain loomed above you, you felt your spirits begin to rise again. Bard had suggested that you all set up camp for the night and in the morning he would meet with the dwarf King, Thorin, to seek the aid that we desperately needed for survival.

There was no doubt in your mind that night that you and the towns people would be given what you were promised. When the dwarves came to the town they seemed kind and honorable, so you had no reason to believe that they would go back on their word.

You gathered as much wood and dry grass as you could find so that you could build a fire, when the sun went down it became unbearably cold and you had not brought any extra clothing to help you stay warm.  
Once you had got the fire going you instructed your brother to lay near it and try to get some sleep, the events of the past two days had drained his spirit entirely.

Since you had left the devastation, your brother had not said a single word and it began to cause you to worry. You hoped that once he ate and rested that maybe he would start to come around, but after everything he had been through, you were unsure.  
Witnessing the deaths of people you had lived around all your life and knowing that your parents were most likely dead was hard enough for you to process and you were an adult. So you could only imagine what a child like him would be thinking.

The lack of food was causing your head to spin, there was very little to go around , so you gave your part of the rations to your brother. You decided that it was best to try and get some sleep too and reserve your energy.  
You lay down and put an arm around your brother, before drifting off to sleep yourself.

 

The next morning you awoke early, your sleep had not refreshed you like you had hoped. It had been freezing and sleeping on the uneven, rocky ground caused your back to ache.  
You smiled when you gazed down to see that your brother was sleeping peacefully, you didn't have the heart to wake him, so you decided instead to go and find out what was happening on your own.

The campsite was quite peaceful, although there was the occasional whimper and cry from grieving women and men who had lost someone not long ago.

You went in search of Bard, but after a while of searching you could find him nowhere and decided to sit down on a large rock just above the campsite.  
Your stomach growled angrily and you cursed under your breath, you needed to find food soon or you would be unfit to travel, already your mind was hazey and your limbs were weak.

Resting your head in your hands, you gazed out over the hills into the distance and sighed at the sight of the black smoke that rose from the direction of your home. It was strange to think that only two days ago you were in your home looking after your family.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when you saw what looked like more people in the distance, at first there were only a few, but within seconds more and more of them came pouring over the hills.  
The closer they got you became aware of their golden armour and realised this was some kind of army.  
You began to panic and rushed off the rock and down to the towns people below, you had to find Bard, he would know what to do.

It dawned on you that now that the great Dragon Smaug was no longer guarding the troves of treasure in the mountain, that others would come to steal the wealth that dwelled there. Perhaps coming here was not a smart move after all.

"THERE IS SOME KIND OF ARMY COMING!!" You shouted, trying to warn everyone of the possible danger that was heading for them.  
Most people barely looked up at you, too weak from the lack of food and sleep to register what you were saying.

" CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME? THERE IS AN ARMY HEADING OUR WAY!" You gazed around at the others in confusion, were you the only one that was worried?

You felt a hand on your shoulder and spun around to see Bard standing behind you, he did not look concerned at all.

" I do not believe that we have a reason to worry, they are the Elves of Mirkwood that approach, perhaps they have come to assist us." He told you assuringly.

" They do not come dressed in armour to come to our aid." You were sure that they looked ready for battle, if they were only here to help us then that would not have been necessary, their numbers were also too great.

Bard went ahead of you to meet the on coming army of Elves, you moved further back, feeling very uneasy about the whole situation.

Most of the towns people had traded with the Elves of Mirkwood when Lake-Town was a thriving place, but you personally have never had any dealings with them.  
You had heard rumours of them though and thankfully most of what you had heard was positive, apart from what you had heard of their King, Thranduil.  
The King was said to be a cruel and merciless man who would imprison people for just looking at him the wrong way, if these things were true, then you most certainly did not want to meet him.

The rest of the towns people pushed past you with a new lease of life at the sight of the Elves as they poured into the camp grounds. Behind them a large black horse pulled an open wagon which was filled to the top with fresh, colourful fruits and vegetables, just the sight of them made your stomach do flips in anticipation.

The crowd stampeded to the wagon and began pulling the varies foods out and shoving them desperatly into their mouths, as hungry as you were, there was no way you were going to risk getting trampled. You could wait until the feeding frenzy had died down, you just hoped that there would be something left for you.

Whilst the others ate, you kept your eyes curiously on the Elven army that continued to pour into the campsite, you had never seen creatures so magnificent in your life, but they were nothing compared to who you saw next.

The King rode in on a large deer like animal, he had an air of arrogance about him, but that made him no less attractive to you. This Elf was by far the most attractive man you had seen, even your imagination could not have created a man as flawlessly perfect as he was.

You watched him get off of his deer and walk over to talk to Bard, the Kings movements were so graceful and elegant, but you could also see the power and danger that hid behind all of this.

You stood akwardly away from the crowd, you were unsure of what you were meant to do or where to look.

From the expression on Bard's face you could tell that the discussion he was having with the King was not a pleasant one and you were almost certain that your suspicions of their true intentions were correct.

At this point you found it very hard to believe that your situation could get much worse, so it terrified you to think of what they may be discussing and how it could effect you.

All of a sudden, you noticed a pair of piercing eyes looking back at you and you realised with horror that the King had noticed you staring at him. After locking eyes with him, your heart sank and your face flared bright red as you dropped your gaze quickly. You then remembered every story you had been told about this man and cursed yourself under your breath for being so stupid.  
Those few moments felt like an eternity as you stared at your feet waiting for him to have you hauled away by his guards, but when the silence continued, you forced yourself to look up.

The King just looked at you blankly as though you were some kind of irritating insect whose presence was not worth noting, before returning to his conversation with Bard.

Letting out a sigh of relief you could feel your panic stricken body begin to loosen up again and your heart rate returned to a more normal pace. Normally you would have felt very offended if someone had looked at you like that, but right now you couldn't care less.

Not long after your terrifying encounter, the towns people began to break off into groups away from the wagon, most of them gathered around Bard to hear details about his conversation with Thranduil.  
You took this opportunity to try and gather what little food there was left and by this point it no longer looked appetising, the fruit was bruised and battered, but you weren't going to complain. By this point you would eat rotten fruit if you had to.

Gathering your pitiful haul into your arms you started to make your way back to your brother when you heard someone call you.

" ( F/N ), wait up!"

Turning around you saw Bard walking towards you, he looked concerned about something, you were unsure why he would wish to speak with you as you had hardly ever spoken with each other.

" Is everything all right?" You wished he would tell you quickly, by now you were so desperate to eat, but you tried to seem as interested as possible.

" The King requests your presence."

You could feel your body seize up again in fear, why on earth would the King want to see you?

" I do not understand, w..why would he wish to see me?" You managed to stutter out, honestly you were surprised any words came out at all.

" I believe it has something to do with you glaring at him earlier, the King is an unpredictable man, so it could be any number of reasons."  
Bard tried to reassure you, but you could see in his face that it was most likely the first reason and you were probably about to be punished.

This was all too much, every part of you told you that you should just grab your brother and run, but your sensible side tried to tell you that maybe the King was not so bad after all and you were just going to receive a verbal warning.

" I shall be along shortly, first I must take this food to my brother."

Bard nodded reluctantly, " Do that if you must, but I advise you to not keep the King waiting (F/N), he is not a patient man."

The thought of going in front of the Kings terrifying gaze was almost too much to bare, you were almost certain that if you had any food in your stomach you would vomit it all back up.

You thought back to your life in Lake-Town and realised that in this moment you would have given anything to be back there, back to your simple life. In the past two days you had had more excitement and adventure than you have had in all your eighteen years combined. None of it so far had been good and now it was potentially going to get so much worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating, thanks everyone for your comments, kudos and of course for reading :) You are awesome!

It took all of the strength that you could summon to walk back to where you had left your sleeping brother. Your legs were shaking and your mind raced with a hundred horrifing scenarios that might happen to you when you met the elven King.

It was all very confusing, even after everything you had heard about him, would he really have you locked away for staring at him? It seemed unlikely, but Bard did say he was unpredictable and if it was not about that, then what could it possible be?

 

Your brother was exactly where you had left him, but by now he was awake and was solomely poking at the glowing embers of last nights fire with a stick. You half expected his face to light up at the sight of the fresh food, but he barely glanced at it before returning to what he was doing.

With a sigh you approached him and tried to hand him a peach, but he continued to ignore you.

" You must eat, brother, how else will you grow to be strong?"

You knew that he must be starving, he was just being stubborn, you did not understand why he seemed to be angry with you. It was most likely his way of grieving, so you did not want to push him too hard.

Shaking his head, he pushed the fruit in your hand away, " I do not feel like eating."

Sitting down next to him, you took a bite out of the peach yourself, the soft flesh was a little too sweet for your liking, but you devoured it quickly.

" Well if you do not want any, I shall just have to eat it all myself."

This tactic seemed to work and your brother raised his head and eyed a plum like fruit that you were raising to your mouth.  
He grabbed it quickly out of your hand and began quickly stuffing it into his mouth.

" I thought you were not hungry?" You chuckled.

He grunted at you through a mouthful of the fruit, before turning to face away from you. Now you were getting worried, you knew that these last few days had been hard on him and you did not expect him to be fine, but what had you done to upset him?

" What is the matter?" You asked him softly.

The silence that followed was unbearable, there were many things that had caused you heartache over the last couple of days, but you could not stand to see your only family angry at you.

"Have I done something, tell me please, I will not be angry with you." You tried to plead with him.

 

"It is your fault." He finally muttered coldly.

You felt your heart sink, " Whatever do you mean?"

He turned to face you, he had tears welling up in his eyes. " You let our parents die."

The accusation astounded you, how could your own brother think you capable of such a thing?

" We could have gone back for them, but you were selfish, you just wanted to save yourself!!." He had began yelling now, tears started to stream down his face.

You rushed over to comfort him, but he pushed you away, " Leave me alone!"

"Please brother, I know that you are upset, but I did what our parents would have wanted me to do."

By now other people in the camp began to turn around and stare at you both, they looked at you with contempt, as though you were guilty.

"You hated our home, you always have!"

You tried to approach him again, but he backed further and further away from you as though you were more monstrous than an Orc itself.

"Please just listen to me!" You pleaded with him.

It looked to you as though he was going to attempt to leave the camp completely, it made you sick to think that your own brother would want to run away from you. Desperately you wanted him to know that you would do anything to protect him and that if you had not done what you did, then he would be dead like so many others.

As he moved further off away from the camp, you saw two Elven guards approaching you and they did not look happy.  
When they reached you, they each grabbed one of your arms forcefully and began dragging you in the opposite direction, away from your brother.

"LET ME GO!!" You struggled against them, dragging your heels in the dirt in an attempt to slow them down.

As they hauled you off like some kind of criminal, you kept straining over your shoulder to see your brother disappearing over the hill, further away from camp.

"Stop this!! Please! I must go to my brother!!"  
Tears poured down your face as you tried to fight your case.

"He is too young to go out there alone!! PLEASE!!"

It destroyed you to watch him vanish out of your sight and know there was nothing you could do about it. You knew that he would not last long out there on his own, this world was filled with dangers around every turn.

In one last attempt to free yourself from their grasps, you kicked one of them hard in the shin, but to your surprise he barely registered the attack, instead he just gripped you tighter.

You looked around you at the people you had lived alongside all of your life and not one of them got up to help you, they did not even attempt to go after your brother. It disgusted you, if it had been the other way around, you would have helped in a heartbeat.

Up ahead you saw a large, fabric tent and you felt terror creeping to the surface, that must be the King's tent. Through all of the commotion with your brother, you had forgotten about your meeting with the Elven King.

Your heart began to beat faster the closer you got to the tent, almost to the point that it began to hurt slightly in your chest. Breathing became harder as you took in small, shallow breaths. You were sure that your panic was brought on mostly by your brother, but the thought of being put in front of the King did not help.

In a final attempt to reach their merciful side you pleaded with them one last time, it angered you how pathetic and undignified you sounded.  
"Please.......please just let me go." You whimpered.

Again they responded with silence, but by now it was too late for you anyway, another Elven guard pulled back the material of the tent and you were pushed inside.  
It took all of your strength not to just seal your eyes shut and pretend you were somewhere else.

Once inside, the two guards holding you, pushed you onto your knees and kept you down by pushing hard on your shoulders.

"My Lord, we have brought the girl." One of the men above you spoke, you kept your eyes on the floor, you wanted to delay seeing the King for as long as possible.

 

"Leave us." A deep, commanding voice not far from you instructed them.

The men did not move, "My Lord, I fear that she may run."

You heard footsteps slowly coming towards you, shivers ran down your spine the closer that they got, untill they stopped dead right in front of you.

" Well, she will not get far, now leave us." His tone was becoming impatient, as though he would snap at any moment.

The pressure was lifted from your shoulders as the guards took their leave, you were sure that you would bruise from where they had been grabbing you. It was only now that you began to notice the pain.

You considered running, but no matter how great the idea sounded, you knew that the King was right, you would not get far.

It terrified you knowing that it was now just you and him in the room, you continued to keep your eyes glued to the floor.You kept your breathing quiet, as though if you remained silent you may somehow go unnoticed. This was a ridiculous thought of course, but at that point you would try anything.

"Look at me." The King's voice was utterly alluring and if you had not been so scared at that moment, you would have enjoyed each word immensely.

You wanted to do as he asked, but you just couldn't bring yourself to do it, your body fought you every step of the way.

A cold, soft hand grabbed your chin violently and forced your face upwards.

"I think you would be wise to do as I ask, human."  
His voice that was so appealing only moments before was now becoming laced with anger, you did not want to test his patience further.

Slowly you opened your eyes and looked upwards at the King, who was looming above you and gazing down at you with a peculiar look on his beautiful face. It was a mixture of curiosity, anger and perhaps pity? You were unsure, but the gaze was intense and you shifted awkwardly, hoping that he would break eye contact.

He began to slowly circle around you, taking in each and every detail of you with his icy blue eyes, from your dirty ragged dress, to your matted (H/L) (H/C) hair. The days of travelling had done nothing to aid your appearance, but it was not as if a chance to bathe and change your clothes had arisen on the road to the mountain.  
Compared to him, you felt like a moth competing with the glorious beauty of a butterfly.

After an excruciating amount of silence, he finally spoke again.

" When a King requests your presence, you are expected to come immediately." He hissed at you.

You stayed silent, you were unsure whether or not he wanted you to speak at that moment, you felt it would be unwise to do so unless he asked, the sooner you could get out of here, the better.

"Are you mute?" He sneered at you, clearly becoming irritated more by the second.

You searched your brain for a response, " No m..my King, I am not mute, I would have come, b...but I had some trouble.....with my brother."

The tears were threatening to escape again just thinking about the trouble your brother could be in right now, every second you wasted in here was time you could be spending searching for him.

" Do you think that is a good enough reason to have kept me waiting?"

Your next response was most likely a bad one, but you could not stop yourself, it was not nearly as bad as the many things you wanted to say to him.

"My brother is more important to me than anything in this world, I mean no d..disrespect, but I had no choice." You muttered, cursing to yourself as a singular tear managed to escape and roll down your cheek.

"Get on your feet."

His response was not as bad as you had expected, if anything he seemed amused by your response. It was clear that he knew you feared him and that he relished every moment of it.

Before you had time to think, you could feel your shaky legs rise beneath you as you warily got to your feet.  
The King stood only inches away from you now and the close proximity made you anxious, he was much taller than you which added to how intimidating he was.

You flinched slightly as he reached down with one of his smooth, marble hands and wiped the tear from your cheek. Strangely, and you could not explain it, his touch was somehow comforting and you hated yourself for craving it as much as you did in that moment.

"Why do you fret so, little one? Do you fear me?"  
His tone had become much softer now, but you knew not to let your guard down, no doubt his temper could surface at any moment.

"Y..yes." You managed to mutter.

He placed a finger under your chin and pushed up gently, so that your gaze once again met his.

"Well do not, I have no intention of harming you."

The King released you from his touch and turned away from you, he walked over to a small wooden table and picked up two glasses containing a deep, burgundy liquid.  
He motioned for you to come forward and take one. You had never had wine before, after you had seen your father stumble home night after night drunk, it had never appealed to you. You figured that declining it though, would be rude, so you slowly approached him and took one from his hand.

The King watched you intently as you raised the liquid to your mouth and took a drink, surprisingly it did not have an unpleasant taste and the warm burn that followed from it was quite pleasing.

" I expect you are curious as to why I have summoned you here."  
The King placed his glass back down on the table and began to pace elegantly in front of you.

" Yes my Lord." You took another drink of the wine, you had been told many times that alcohol helped to relax people, so you hoped that it would work for you.

"When I first arrived at camp, I witnessed the people of Lake-Town fight like animals over the food I had provided, their behaviour was deplorable."  
There was a hint of disgust in his smooth voice.

 

It was unclear to you where he was going with this, but you were curious now, you were quite sure though that he did not intend to have you imprisoned, which was a relief.

"Then I noticed you away from the crowd, waiting patiently to gather your food in a dignified manner...." He paused and took a drink of his wine, before continuing.

"I find you to be quite a beautiful creature, never in all of my years have I felt myself so drawn to a human."

You were in shock, there was no way that he honestly thought that, you believed that maybe he was just mocking you so that he could laugh at you if you fell for his words.

He did not allow you enough time to dawn to much on what he had just said before he continued to explain his intentions.

"As I am sure you are aware, the Dawrf ,Thorin, has left me no choice but to go to war, so that I may claim what is mine, my army ascends at dawn break."

This was news to you, that explained the unpleasant conversation Bard seemed to be having with King Thranduil earlier on that day. You were unsure though what all of this had to do with you, surely the King had more important things to be doing than to talk to you?

" Much blood will be spilt tomorrow and I do not wish for yours to be amoung it, so I have organized for you to be taken back to Mirkwood, to safety." The King looked at you for your response, but you were unsure how to deal with it all.

You considered your options for a moment before responding.  
"I am truly grateful for your kindness, my Lord, but without my brother I will not leave this place."

" You misunderstand me, little one, for I was not giving you a choice in the matter." He replied bluntly. It angered you beyond words that he could even suggest you leaving without your young brother, if this man had been anyone else, you would have slapped him.>

 

Perhaps he was going to be taking you prisoner after all, for there would be no way you would be leaving here willingly without your brother safely by your side.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who is reading, leaving comments and Kudos! *
> 
> Sorry about the update being so late, I have been buried in coursework and exams these past few days, so I have found it difficult to find the time to do the update.  
> Thank you all for being so patient, you are the best ! :)
> 
> *I have edited this chapter because I was not entirely happy with it, so hopefully it is better now.

There was very little time to come up with a plan, but you knew you had to, there was no way that you were going to abandon your kin, but the King did not seem to care about that. Even the thought of being taken away to a strange land scared you and if there was a war coming you did not want to abandon your people, although you knew that they would leave you in a heartbeat, you could not imagine doing the same to them. You knew in your heart that your place was not to live amoungst the Elven people, even if it was just temporary, your place was here, with your people.

Your head began to ache from all these conflicting thoughts fighting in your mind, on the one hand you knew you had to get out of there, but on the other hand you knew that there really was no way of achieving that. The only way that you would leave here would be if the King let you go free, but it was not likely that he would allow that. The Elven King had made it very clear to you that he did not intend on letting you make a choice of your own, it seemed as though it was just expected that you would follow his commands mindlessly, without asking questions. You were strong willed though and no matter how much you feared this man's power and influence, you would not let him decide your future for you. After spending years being told of your duty and what was expected of you, it became clear that you would no longer stand for it.

The King's affections towards you were quite confusing , no doubt his interest in you was driven entirely by lust and there was no substance to it, but even this interest you found difficult to understand. This man could have his choice of many Elven beauties, but instead his interests were now directed towards you, the daughter of a poor trading man. From what you had heard of the King, back when you lived in Lake Town, it had been known that he was not very fond of humans, which added even more to your confusion. Even so, you had to much pride within you to become a toy of his that he could manipulate, use and throw away without a second thought.

You quickly came to the conclusion that his offer was not an act of selfless generosity, but instead just a means of having access to you whenever he wanted. There was no way you were going allow that to happen.

The King continued to gaze at you, as though he expected you to change your mind at any second, you figured that perhaps he was not used to being told no. Then again though, you did not blame him, you were quite certain that not many would have the courage to challenge a King, or perhaps the stupidity.

"My King, I will not come with you willingly whilst my brother is not by my side." You were becoming much bolder now, your fear for this man was now being replaced with a surge of panic induced adrenaline, each second that passed by was a second that your brother strayed further into the grips of danger.

A look of hurt seemed to pass through his eyes for a brief moment, but he quickly replaced it with a growing anger, it was so quick that you began to doubt whether you had even seen it at all.

He drew in a deep breath, " Very well, I shall send two of my men to look for the boy and once he is found, I will have him sent to you at Mirkwood."

You considered his proposal carefully, but once you had thought it over you decided that you could not trust him with your brother's life, saving him was a job you could trust only yourself with. Until not long ago, you had not even met this man, so leaving your brother to be found by his men was to much of a risk.

"How do I know that you will keep your word, my Lord? Perhaps you are just saying this to make me comply with your wishes."

The light ember of rage in his eyes immediately turned to blazing fury,it erupted across his magnificent features and spread like a wild fire. His eyes matched the ferocity of even the worst storm, it caused you to shiver, but you held your ground, now was not a time to express weakness.

Even when he towered over you aggressively, you tried not to show any trace of fear, which began to become much more difficult./p>

" Do you truly question the validity of a King's word?" He seethed down at you.

You took in a deep breath and desperately tried to stay strong, while you searched your panicked mind for a reply. Thankfully one finally came.

"I can not leave my brother's life in the hands of a man I do not know, nobility or not." You answered simply.

"You are fortunate that I am offering my assistance at all, human. I am willing to send two of my men to chase a boy who could be nothing more than a ghost in the woods by now." His words were cold and cruel, your anger began to boil to the surface to the point where you could feel it consume you completely.

Normally you had great control over your anger and rage fueled outbursts, you had been pushed to your limit many times by different people and never reacted the way you decided to now.

Time seemed to slow in those few moments as your open palm crashed across his sharp cheekbones and stung his pale flesh, leaving behind a warm, red replica of your hand print.

Your heart pounded in your chest and your breathing became labored as you realized what you had just done and that there was no way he would show you any mercy now. The Elven King barely flinched at the contact, no doubt being involved in many battles had caused his pain tolerance to become exceedingly high. You thought that maybe it was time to run, because surely nothing you could do now would make it any worse than everything already was.  
It was very likely that even if you made it out of the tent, his guards would catch you before you made it out of camp, but you clung to the idea that if you got far enough away, the King would give up on you and leave you be.

After being frozen to the spot for what seemed like an eternity, you did not look up at the Elven King as your legs began to spring into action. You spun around frantically and tried for the opening of the large tent, you got so close, your fingers grasped the soft material of the tent, but you didn't count on how fast the King was.

His cold hand latched around your arm with a vice like grip and viciously pulled you back into his tall, lithe form, the furious King dragged your struggling body to the table and forcefully pushed you upon it.

Your head smacked down on the solid surface hard and a searing pain shot through your brain causing you to cry out. You tried to move a hand in a attempt to soothe it, but the King grabbed both your wrists and pinned them above your head.

His face was now inches away from yours and you could feel his warm breath upon your skin. It irritated you the effect that his closeness had on you, even his scent was intoxicating and it sent your head spinning. You searched his eyes quickly to try and get some idea of how enraged he was.  
They held no answer though and that terrified you more.

After a moment, he moved his face closer to yours until you were almost touching and then he whispered in your ear.  
"Do not mistake my generosity for weakness, little one. I have killed greater men than you for much less."

The King lingered there for longer than was perhaps needed, it seemed as though he too, enjoyed the close proximity and also that he was in an ultimate position of power over you. After what you had done only moments ago, he held your future, if you had one, in his hands and he could do whatever he wished with you.

The moments that followed were agonizingly intense, you awaited his judgement and came to the conclusion that what you had just done was extremely selfish, you had let your anger get the better of you and that put your brothers life at risk. If you got locked away or worse, killed, no one would be looking for him and it would be likely that he to, would die because of your mistake.

The King released your wrists to your surprise and took a few steps away from you, he was deep in thought, but he kept his gaze upon you.

" What shall I do with you?" He muttered.  
"If I leave you unpunished I shall look weak." He was more thinking out loud than talking directly to you, but you felt that you should try and defend yourself one last time.

" Please my Lord, only you and I know what has happened here, I will tell no one. All I want is a chance to go after my brother."

The king snapped out of his thoughts. " You are in no position to try and negotiate with me. I fear you have forgotten your place."

You fell silent, it dawned on you that you were not going to get an opportunity to find your brother, you had pushed it too far this time, the realization caused tears to surface again and this time you could not summon the energy to hold them back. You hated how you had let yourself look weak in front of this man again, but you were almost past the point of even caring, the one thing that meant the most to you in the world was now slipping through your fingers. Your window of opportunity was closing quickly and you knew that soon it would close forever.

"You have wasted enough of my time already, I have more pressing matters to attend to, I shall consider what I am to do with you until my return to Mirkwood." The look he gave you in that moment reminded you greatly of the look he gave you when you had first laid eyes upon him, as though you were nothing at all but an inconvenience.

The King turned his back on you swiftly and summoned the two guards that had brought you here, back into the tent.  
"Have her sent to Mirkwood." He commanded.

The two guards approached you, pulled you off the table and dragged you past the King, who turned away from you in what seemed like disgust. Although there was something else hidden in his face, perhaps he too, felt shame in the way that his anger had over taken him. It was unclear though and you figured that you were perhaps wishing to see something in him that just was not there.

There was no point fighting them at this point, you thought that perhaps when you were taken on the road back to Mirkwood, you could attempt another escape then. You clung to the idea that maybe it would still be possible to find your brother and save him so that you could both move on with your lives and create a new future together, in a new town. This idea though you knew, was verging on a fairy tale, something that would most likely never come to be.

The two Elves continued to pull you along and now a crowd had gathered outside and were staring at you as though you were some kind of side show attraction at a fair. You could feel shame rising inside you, although you were not quite sure why. Perhaps it was because these people you had lived alongside all of your life were now looking at you as though you were a criminal, if only they knew that this was not the case. What was happening to you was cruel, unjust and an abuse of power. You were sure they would not care though. Ever since the town was destroyed it seemed as though these people had lost a part of their humanity, they lacked compassion and had become selfish. It saddened you to realize that you hardly recognized them at all.  
You hoped desperately that Bard would show up and sort this out with the King, but as you got closer to the horse you were about to be placed upon, your hope faded as quickly as it had come.

One of The Elven guards lifted you up as if you weighed nothing at all and pushed you on the back of a large grey stallion, before getting on it himself. It made you feel uncomfortable, but you knew they would not allow you to ride by yourself.  
The other guard got on a smaller black horse and rode out in front of the two of you, you were guessing that he would ride out further ahead to scout if there was any danger approaching.

 

The journey took a lot longer than you had expected, it was hard for you to tell how long it actually was. The scenery began to get dull and repetitive after a while even though you rode through places you had never been before. Your mind was not there most of the time, it was thinking of the past and how much you began to miss your old life. It thought of your brother and where he could possibly be right now, it broke your heart to think of all the terrible things he may encounter on the road. A small piece of you though that perhaps he was unharmed, that the Orc packs would be concentrating on getting to the Lonely mountain and they would not waste their time on a human boy. From what you had heard of their kind though, you knew that this was probably wishful thinking, they were vile creatures who thrived in chaos and destruction.

You also thought of the war that was fast approaching your people, you thought of all the women, children and men who were to weak and grief stricken to handle another wave of death and destruction. You knew that your presence there would not make much of a difference but it still effected you greatly that you now looked like a coward who would not do her part to protect her people.

When you finally entered the grounds of Mirkwood, you were taken aback, never before had you seen a place so magnificent and grand in your whole life. It was almost unimaginable to you that a place like this even existed. A lush expanse of large green trees surrounded the place and the dense woodland hid its magical walls from the eyesight of the rest of the world.  
The horses crossed the small bridge over an extensive, sweeping river which in itself was beautiful, and went towards the enormous door that led into the Elven halls.  
Never in your wildest dreams had you ever thought that you would come to such a place and just for a moment you forgot about your problems and basked in the wonder of it all, from the sweetness in the air to the wild, colourful flowers that grew in bunches along the rivers embankment. Even the sound of the cool water rushing down stream was soothing to you.

Soon the horses had stopped and the large doors slowly pulled open. The guard who sat behind you, hopped off of the horse and quickly stretched his legs, before putting his hands around your waist and lifting you off too. This annoyed you, you were more than capable of getting off the horse by yourself, but the guards seemed to insist on dragging, pulling and lifting you everywhere.

This time though, to your surprise, the Elf did not attempt to pull you along behind him, perhaps he thought that now you were in Mirkwood, you would no longer be a flight risk.

"Follow me." He commanded.

You complied without much hesitation, by now you were curious as to what this place was like inside and you also knew that running would be a stupid move, the guard would be on you in seconds.

Once you were past the doors, you were not disappointed by the interior of the Elven halls, this place was as amazing as it was from the outside and it seemed to go on forever. It was darker in here than you had expected, but it was not unpleasant, in fact you would say that it added to the ambiance.  
The other Elves paid no attention to you, you assumed that they were used to prisoners being taken here and so therefore it was nothing unusual. It was difficult for you not to stare at them though, each and every one of them appeared to be utterly flawless and this made you feel awful within yourself. There was no way you could ever compete with beauty like that. Their clothing as well made you feel inferior, they wore amazingly colourful fabrics and materials and what you wore resembled a dirty old wash cloth.

The walk was quickly over though as you were taken down a dark corridor and the guard stopped outside a wooden door.  
" This is where you will stay for the time being. The King has instructed that you will not be allowed to leave this room unless escorted by a guard."  
You nodded simply as he unlocked the door with a small silver key and motioned for you to go inside. It was not what you had been expecting at all, if this was a prison cell then the prisoners here must be very comfortable. The whole journey here you had been imagining a cold, drafty stone cell, but this was certainly not the case.

The room was large, much larger than anything you were used to, in fact you figured that your old home could have fit inside this room comfortably. There was a bed in the middle of the room, and your own personal bathroom which you were anxious to use as soon as possible, it had been too long since you had felt warm water cleanse your skin. There were so many different scented oils lined up alongside of the bath, you wanted to try every single one of them.

Sadly there were no windows in the room, no doubt another precaution put in place to hinder your plans of escape, but you knew that eventually you would have your chance, but until then you had to make the best of your situation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, I had most of this written a few days ago, but it needed some editing, so I didn't want to post it untill I was happy with it.  
> Enjoy and as always, thanks for reading! :)
> 
>  

It had been two grueling days since you had arrived at the Elven halls against your will, although to you it felt close to being a decade.  
The room you had once felt to be large, was becoming increasingly smaller and more confined by each passing minute. If you did not know any better, you would have insisted that the very walls were closing in on you, as if they intended to suffocate you.

You felt like a caged animal, even though it had only been two days, you longed to be free of this room, to be outside of these halls and be embraced by the chill of the cool night air and the rush of the breeze against your skin. 

The majority of the past couple of days you had spent pacing the room, trying to figure out your next move, but sadly no plausible ideas came to your mind. No matter how much you thought about it, you knew that the only way out of here would be through the door you came in and that was watched closely by a guard.  
When you were not pacing, you lay on top of the grand, luxuriously soft bed and stared up at the ceiling. You stared at it for hours on end one night and you were sure that you had memorized every crack and imperfection it bore.

Sleep seemed to be the only option given to you, your only escape from the mind numbing boredom, but to make matters worse, it seemed to evade you almost completely.  
To make matters worse, each time you closed your eyes you were faced with a clear image of your brother fighting for his life in an unknown place, which caused a sting of pain to stab your heart. You thought of him almost constantly, how innocent he had been to all the dark forces of the world and how that changed so quickly in only a couple of days. You would have given anything to restore that innocence and faith in humanity that he had possessed, to give him just a few more hours of childhood he had now been robbed of. You felt utterly useless in this room and every second that you remained idle in here, you failed your brother more and more, which to you was unacceptable. Your mind never seemed to calm down long enough for you to achieve any kind of real rest, it buzzed with ideas and concerns from dawn till dusk.  
Ever since you had arrived here, you had no real contact with another being. Occasionally you would be visited by a pleasant young maid who brought you food, water and fresh clothes, but her visits were few and fleeting. You were under the impression that she had been instructed to engage you in as little conversation as possible.

No matter how many questions you asked, she replied as simply as she could to each one, you could read in her face that she felt wrong in doing so, but she had little choice.

The most pressing question that you wanted answered was about the battle, it concerned you that you knew so little of it's progress.  
It had come to you last night that if the King were to not return from the war, what would become of you?  
It terrified you to think that you might be forgotten and left to rot here until the day you die. You hoped it would not come to that.

The King's return was not something you were looking forward to though however, after your last meeting when everything turned sour, you knew that he would have something awful in store for you upon his return.  
You never let your mind dawn on his possible punishments for too long as it caused you to become nauseated with worry.

It was hard to remain calm, when you thought of your brother and how the opportunity to stop him from leaving had slipped through your fingers, your anger just seemed to explode from within you.  
The whole situation that was forced upon you made you furious and it took all the restraint you possessed not to destroy the beautiful room piece by piece.

Perhaps you would have been able to keep your mind at bay more successfully if you had been provided with something to read at least, but even after many requests, you received nothing.  
Maybe this was part of the King's punishment, he would leave you confined in here until the boredom drove you to insanity. On the other hand though, you were a prisoner and you thought that it was quite unlikely that they provided the other captives with entertainment either.

You had thought that you would be allowed just a few minutes outside a day, under the protection of a guard of course, but even that seemed to be to great of a request.

You were about to begin your now daily routine of afternoon pacing, when you were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door, it was so faint that it was barely audible. Though after listening to your own thoughts for so long, your ears had become much more tuned to outside noises.

"Come in." You called out, unsure if there was even someone other than the guard on the other side of the door, perhaps he just accidentally brushed against it.

The door was pushed open and a bright, cheerful face peered around it. This was not your usual maid, so you were a little taken a back, but the happiness on her face instantly filled you with a warm glow and you felt immediately drawn to her. With her, she carried a large wicker basket and a pitcher filled with a dark liquid. As she entered the room, she placed both the pitcher and the basket by the bed and approached you.

She was a young and beautiful Elf, with long, flowing black locks and deep hazel eyes with flecks of yellow in them, even now the beauty of the Elven race amazed you.

"My name is Serenia, and I have come to assist you in getting ready for this evening." She said melodically.

What did she mean by this evening? You had not been informed of any kind of event that you were to attend, that is, if it was an event and not a trial or worse, your execution.  
The look in her eyes did not show the excitement of a woman getting someone prepared for something as horrific as an execution though, so you felt more at ease.

"It is nice to meet you, my name is ( F/N ), I am sorry, but what is happening this evening?" You inquired.

Serenia looked at you with confusion as though everyone should have known , " Have you not been told? Tonight there will be a celebration of the King's much awaited return."

You felt that nauseated feeling return to you, your legs started to grow weak as you thought about the King returning. Of course you had known that this would be likely to happen, but you had been expecting a few more days of his absence.

" ( F/N ) , you have become pale, what ever is the matter?This is surely a joyous occasion." Serenia touched your arm gently and gazed at you with concern.

"I fear that for me, there shall be nothing joyous about it. I am the King's prisoner and I was assured punishment upon his return." You replied weakly.

 

"You misunderstand, I have been informed that you are a guest here, not a prisoner." Serenia seemed confused by your words as though they were utterly absurd.

" If I am not a prisoner, then why am I confined to this room?" You challenged her.

Serenia was quick to respond, " For your own safety my Lady, the King feared you may get yourself killed."

This made no sense to you, of course you were a prisoner, Serenia must have been misinformed about the nature of your stay here. Nothing about the last couple of days had made you feel like a guest, you had been locked in a room with nothing but your own company for hours on end.

"I do not think you understand, there has to be some kind of mistake." You muttered.

Serenia giggled and pushed you playfully, " My lady, this is not a room given to prisoners, you are a guest here, but now I must insist that we get you ready."

You were baffled, Serenia had made a good point about the room, that had been an aspect that confused you from the moment that you had arrived here. Surely after what you had done though, the King would not forgive you and welcome you to Mirkwood with open arms as his guest. It made no sense to you.

This celebration though could provide you with the cover you needed to escape this wretched place, all the guards would be distracted and so slipping past them could actually be possible.

Serenia pushed you into a small and uncomfortable wooden chair that caused you to shift constantly to keep yourself from going numb, and began to run a silver handled brush through your ( H/L ) (H/C).  
You could not help but feel like a child as she did this, you were more than capable of doing this yourself, but she seemed happy, so you did not want to insult her by telling her to stop.

 

After a few moments passed, you began to relax and found yourself thinking of your younger years back home in Lake-Town, when your mother would sit you on a stool in front of the fire and brush your hair before bed. You mother would softly sing you a lullaby, her voice was gentle and beautiful. It pained you to think that you would never hear that voice again, it had always made you feel so safe and secure as a child. You longed to hear it now, to comfort you when you needed it most.

You flinched as Serenia tried to pull the brush through one of the many knots your hair had gathered from days of not being able to brush it.

"Now my Lady, would you prefer your hair up or down this evening?"

It did not fuss you how your hair looked, next to a group of Elves, nothing she could do would make you feel much better about your appearance. In Lake-Town, you had been considered a great beauty, but here in Elven territory, you were not sure you could compare.

" I do not mind, just do what causes you the least effort." You replied simply.

Serenia tousled your hair around thoughtfully, " Well I believe you would look most spectacular with your hair down my Lady." She mused.

You felt strange having her address you so formally, you by no means considered yourself to be in high enough standing to be given the title of Lady, but in a way it felt nice.

Serenia worked for a long time on your hair and as there was no mirror in front of you, there was no way of telling what it looked like. You had seen her pick up some small, beautiful dark red flowers and she seemed to place them into a couple of delicate braids at each side of your head.

"There you are my Lady." Serenia beamed and handed you a simple, silver hand mirror so that you could admire her handy work.

You raised the mirror and you were almost shocked at it's reflection, never before had you looked so elegant, you barely recognized yourself.  
Gently you touched the braids that were adorned with flowers, almost as if you did not believe that the mirror showed a true reflection of you.

"Serenia, it is amazing."

Serenia giggled at your astounded reaction, "You look beautiful my Lady."

You spent a few more moments admiring it from different angles, before Serenia turned you around to face her and took a small jar out of her basket. You looked at it with confusion which caused Serenia to laugh again.  
"Do not worry my Lady, it is a simple lip stain composed of red berries."

She placed some of the mixture on her index finger and ran it across your lips. You looked in the mirror again and admired how deeply red your lips now were.

"There, now we can get you dressed."

Out of the basket, Serenia carefully pulled out a red garment and held it before you for your scrutiny.  
The dress was a deep, blood red with beautiful floral patterens embroidered in gold around the waist. It was a smooth material, not as shiny as silk, but it felt almost the same.  
It was no where near like any of the modest dresses that you had spent your life wearing, this one would show quite a lot of your skin as it was sleeveless and the neckline was low.

"Will all the women be dressed like this?" You inquired, looking at the dress with worry.

"My Lady, you need not worry, the women will be wearing all manner of dresses." Serenia assured you.

Serenia instructed you to undress yourself, then she proceeded to help you get into the dress. Again you could have accomplished that yourself, apart from doing the dress up as it was like a corset at the back, every time she pulled the strings you could feel the air being knocked out of your lungs to the point where it was almost unbearable.After a few moments you got used to it though and you ran your hands down your waist, loving the figure that the dress now gave you.

" We are almost done my Lady, now all you need are some jewels."

As a poor girl growing up you had never even held jewels, you had always adored them from a far by seeing them on the wealthy women and wives of rich traders in Lake-Town, but it had never crossed your mind that one day you would be given some to wear yourself.

Serenia pulled out a black, velvet covered box and opened it, she reached inside and pulled out a necklace. It had a thin golden chain, which was so delicate that it was as thin as a thread of silk.  
She placed it gently in the palm of her hand, so that you could see the pendant that hung from it.  
It was a gorgeously cut ruby, in an almost tear drop shape, which was surrounded by smaller bright white stones that topped the beauty of a diamond.

"What are these?" You pointed towards the small, multi-toned gems.

"Those are starlight gems, my Lady, this necklace was supplied by the King himself."

You were astounded, why on earth would the King try to supply you with such beautiful jewelry? Perhaps he felt guilty that he had stopped you from finding your brother, but even the thought of accepting a gift from him made you furious. Did he think that he could make you forget about everything that had happened with a necklace? Yes it was beautiful, but to you, wearing it was as tough as swallowing poison./p>

Serenia undid the clasp, lifted up your hair and carefully placed the necklace around your neck.

"You look magnificent my Lady."

You looked amazing but now that you were ready, you felt over come with a mixture of emotions that you wanted to mask. You were nervous about the escape you had planned, about facing the King again and you were not prepared to meet the inhabitants of the Elven halls. You were hopeful that the King would be swarmed all night with men and women congratulating him on his success, so that he would not even be aware that you were there at all. The look of panic on your face was very clear, Serenia saw this and smiled warmly at you, " There is no need to feel nervous my Lady, but I have something that will help."

Serenia walked over to the pitcher, poured you a glass of the red liquid and handed it to you.

" Now I must be going, a guard with escort you to the dining hall shortly." Serenia then took her leave before you even had a chance to protest and you were left alone again.

You raised your glass to your lips and drank some of the familiar dark red liquid, you knew that it may cloud your judgement, but you knew that you had to do something to disguise the suspicious look you wore. This wine was much sweeter than the one the King had provided you with on your first meeting, but it made it much easier to drink and before you knew it you had finished your second glass. It worried you that you had not yet come up with a more polished plan of escape by now and you did not even know the layout of the halls, when the time came you were just going to have to wing it.

It was at least half an hour before the guard opened the door and now the large pitcher was almost empty, which you had not intended on doing. He gestured for you to join him in the hallway. By now you could feel a calmness wash over you as the wine kicked in, you could now see why people could drink to excess, the feeling was addictive.

Thankfully the walk to the dining hall was short, by now you were starving as you had eaten very little today and there was nothing to soak up the wine, you began to feel light headed.  
The guard stopped at the large wooden door and opened it for you, motioning you to go inside. The idea of walking in there alone terrified you, but you took in a deep breath and stepped inside.

The large hall was quite dark, but it was filled with more candles than you could count, which made for an intimate atmosphere. There were small tables dotted evenly around the hall and in the centre of the room there was a large table, which is where you expected that the King would be sitting. You did not dare to check if he was there, you wanted to avoid him as long as possible.

The room was buzzing with excited Elven men and woman who chatted over glasses of wine and food, you had no idea where you were supposed to be sitting and you walked around the edge of the room awkwardly.

 

Eventually you came across a free seat at a small table near the centre of the room and you tapped an Elven man on the shoulder.  
"Is this seat taken?" You asked quietly.  
The man looked up at you and seemed to pause, a wide grin spread across his face as he slowly took in your form from head to toe.  
The look he gave you made you feel very uncomfortable and you almost wanted to turn around and walk away, but at the same time the thought of walking aimlessly around the room seemed worse.  
You wanted to sit down as soon as possible and try to blend in, the longer you stayed on your feet, the more likely it would be that the King would spot you.

The man got to his feet, pulled out the chair for you and his eyes never left yours, " It is not taken, please sit."  
His hand lightly carressed the small of your back as you reluctantly took your seat, which made you shudder in slight discomfort.  
He then proceeded to sit back down in his own chair," It is not often that we have human guests in these halls and certainly none as intoxicating as you."  
You shifted uncomfortably in your seat and you tried desperately to avoid his attentions, everything about this man irritated you. All you wanted to do was eat and get this night over with, you were starting to think you would have preferred to be locked back up in room again.

The man continued to gaze at you intensely as though he was expecting you to return his advances at any moment, but instead you turned to your left and attempted to seem engaged in the conversation being held by the other elves at the table. You knew this was rude of you and you did not enjoy being impolite, but you were in no mood to flirt with the arrogant stranger.

The other Elves made no attempts to talk to you, but you did not mind, by now the alcohol had hit you in full force and not much of what they were saying made sense to you, even the room slowly began to spin, but it was not a terrible feeling.  
You had finally been able to shut up the voices in your head that had been terrorising you for the past couple of days and you could feel the warmth of relaxation wash over you in waves.

As you began to get more comfortable, you decided to sneak a quick glance at the large table in the centre of the room, but you quickly realised it was a mistake.  
You had not been expecting to instantly lock eyes with the man you had been wanting to stay clear of for the rest of the night, but there he was, the King, gazing back at you.  
You wondered how long he had been looking at you and when you caught him staring, he almost seemed to be slightly embarrassed as he cleared his throat and quickly looked away, returning to converse with a gorgeous Elven woman who seemed to throw herself at him desperately.

This was not how you had expected your next encounter with him to pan out and you had not been expecting him to let you off so easily. There seemed to be no trace of anger sorrounding him tonight, if anything he had a much more pleasant aura and you were shocked to see him actually smiling. You did not pretend to understand why he had not looked at you with hatred or fury, like he had done at your last meeting, but you were sure he had his reasons. Perhaps he did not wish to make a scene during the celebrations and would instead, choose to find you later to deal with you. The King you saw before you reminded you nothing of the man who had brought you here against your will, the man you had met was much more of a monster. Now after returning from the battle, he had a much more vulnerable air about him, but you could not explain why it seemed that way. The man before you was just some how much more difficult to hate, but it did not change what he had done to you and your brother, so you concentrated on the pain you felt and that seemed to fix the mixed feeling you had towards him.

Now that everyone had finished eating, it was announced that everyone would be moving to the ballroom for music and dancing. You could feel your mood begin to deteriorate as the pleasant buzz the wine had provided began to wear off, so before you went any further, you drank another glass of wine. There were now hardly any guests or guards ahead of you, which made you realize that now was probably the best time to try and find your way out of here. When you got to your feet, you were shocked to realize that you were in fact,much more drunk than you originally thought and your legs felt unsteady beneath you as you stumbled towards the door. Escaping was going to prove to be a much more difficult task now and you cursed yourself for being so stupid as to get roaring drunk when you had something so important to accomplish.

You decided not to think and you just headed for the door, but by the time you had reached it, the majority of the Elves had made their way out and you were now amoung the few stragglers, some of whom were in a much worse state than you were, which made you feel better.  
Just as you were about to exit, you felt a hand on your shoulder pull you back into the room and your heart sank, perhaps the creepy man from the table had noticed how drunk you were and waited behind to get you while you were alone.  
You slowly spun around to find that thankfully, it was not him, but the person in front of you did not make you feel much less uneasy.

"I can see that the wine is to your liking." The King's expression was that of amusement as he watched you try not to trip while standing still.

"Forgive me, this is only my second time drinking wine, I did not know my limit." You tried to defend yourself, it caused you to feel greatly embarrassed to look so foolish in front of royalty. You wanted to scream in that moment, it seemed as though every time you were close to being free, this man showed up and destroyed it all. The amount of alcohol in your system stopped you from being terrified at being in his presence, but a small part of you still worried about what he intended to do with you.

"Do not apologize, my love, it is after all a celebration, you are amoung many, including myself, that have perhaps consumed too much wine."

You were taken aback by his casual attitude, you put his behaviour down to the wine, because surely if he was sober, he would not be treating you this way. After how you had disrespected him and what he had done to you, it would make no sense for him to just let it slide without an appropriate punishment.

There was a short period of silence after this, but it was not an uncomfortable one, you spent those few moments letting your mind wander into places that you did not wish it to go and until now, you did not know existed. Yes, you had known since you had met the King that he was very attractive, but that had been overshadowed by your hatred of him. As much as you wanted to dislike him, no matter how much your mind told you to hate every part of him, you could not help but feel drawn to him like a fly was drawn to light. He acted so differently tonight that it was hard for your inebriated mind to really register him as the same man who had caused you so much distress only days earlier.  
His presence alone made you feel safe and secure which made no sense to you, as this had been the man who had assured you punishment for something that he had caused himself.  
On top of all this he was a cruel man, he had proven this when he showed so little mercy when all you wished to do was protect your only remaining family. You knew you had to remember this every time you found yourself feeling affectionate towards him, but the hate you had felt only hours ago, was quickly being matched with feelings just as strong, lust was amoung them. You found it hard to explain why you suddenly felt this way, all you knew was that the past few days had been a drain on you emotionally and you seemed to latch to the only person you knew would reciprocate any kind of affection towards you. It was stupid, but no smart decision was ever made under the influence of alcohol. You cursed yourself for getting so drunk as if you had been sober, you would have been able to push down the attraction you had for him and fix your priorities, but now you could hardly control it.

You pulled yourself back to the present situation at hand and found the King slowly moving his penetrating blue eyes over each inch of your body. Even when you caught his gaze, he had no intention of apologising and his expression started to change drastically to an almost animalistic thirst to have you for his own. It was almost frightening, but at the same time you felt the unwanted desire for him too and you hated yourself for it. This man was a monster, no better than the creatures spawning from the darkest depths of Middle earth in your mind, but there you were letting yourself get caught up in a moment you did not wish to have in the first place.

" I had this dress made specifically for you, red truly becomes you , little one." His voice had become much lower now as he approached you like a lion stalking his prey.

If you had been sober, his casual attitude towards you would have made you furious, after what he had done he thought it was appropriate to think that you had somehow forgotten about everything. The alcohol had clouded your best judgement and it only seemed to focus on what was skin deep and in front of you, you wanted instant gratification. For some strange reason you thought that this would perhaps provide you with some kind of temporary relief from all the anguish and pain you had felt over the last few days.

The alcohol had also made you bold and you found it much easier to silence the voice in your head that screamed you were about to make a terrible mistake and that this man was nothing more than an enemy.  
Your body had made up its own mind though and there was nothing that the voice of reason could do to stop it, you felt completely uninhibited and it was a truly intoxicating feeling.

The King was now right in front of you and you could smell an inviting mixture of wine and honey emanating from his glowing skin.  
The hunger in his shimmering, icy eyes sent you reeling and before you knew what was happening, you reached up and wrapped your hands around his slender neck and forced his face and lips down onto yours.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To thank you all for being so patient I made sure I had a follow up chapter ready quickly after the last one was posted, this one is slightly shorter than the others, but hopefully you guys will like it anyway! 
> 
> * There has been some editing in chapter 4, as I feel the plot was somewhat lost*
> 
> Thanks again to everyone for reading, leaving comments and Kudos :)

The kiss was not deep and passionate, but instead cold and unyeilding, it fell short of all that you had somehow conjured up in your mind at that moment.  
All you had craved was some kind of contact with another being that could help you forget, just for a short while, that your life had been slowly falling apart ever since the blazing massarcre that destroyed your life.

Instead of feeling complete, or in any way happy, the kiss left you feeling empty and void, it filled you with self loathing and regret began to pull you back to sanity.  
This was not what you wanted or who you wanted to become, in a moment of weakness you had clung to the nearest body, regardless of who possessed it for the selfish need to feel some kind of relief from the pain that had been your driving source for so long now.

Nothing had ever been this complicated back in Lake-Town, although your life there had been a hard one, it was certainly easier than the web you now found yourself trapped in. Every sunrise brought along a new hardship and a new obstacle you had to try and overcome, but this time you did not overcome it, you fell short drastically.

Shame crushed you until it was almost crippling, if your brother and parents knew of what you had done, they would have been disgraced by your obvious betrayal and that thought in itself was an awful burden to bare.  
Removing your arms from around him, you pushed him away quickly, as you could not stand the thought of the loveless embrace continuing on any longer. You did not want to see the evidence anymore that you had failed yourself, it was not often that you gave in to such carnal need, but the cocktail of wine and emotion had been a deadly mixture, one you now knew you could not handle.

You reached around behind your neck and fumbled clumsily with the clasp of necklace the King had given you in an attempt to keep you sweet . You pulled the now acidic feeling gem away from your skin and threw it to the floor in a new found fury which only moments ago was lost.  
The King watched you, clearly dumbfounded by the quick change in your mood.

" All the gems in the world will never amount to what you have taken from me!" The King moved towards you again, putting his hands on your shoulders to try and calm you down.

"Leave me! You leave my brother to die and you act as though nothing has happened! You are a selfish and cruel man, if you had any decency you would let me go!" You grabbed his hands and ripped them off your shoulders, before pushing him back away from you. " What has just occurred was a mistake and it will never happen again!"

" Do you not think I regret the events of that day? I do not know why I acted as I did, I offered you my assistance and you insulted me as though my word was worthless!" The King was becoming hot tempered now and he looked like he would explode at any moment, but you did not care, you wanted to push him as far as you could.

" I did not know you and already you expected my loyalty, you meant nothing to me and you wanted me to trust you with his life? Never before have I met a creature as self involved as you!"  
You had no real idea of how loud you were, but you no longer wanted to disguise your rage, it had been building up each second that you were not searching for brother and now you unleashed it to it's full force. You wanted to be as cruel as you could to the man before you, to pull him down from his throne of arrogance and make him feel the pain that consumed you everyday.

" You ripped me from my only family and thought I would just accept it? This proves that you can not and do not understand love."

The King said nothing to this, but his face seemed to fall into what you could only describe as anguish, clearly you had hit a nerve with him, but this did not make you feel better as you had expected it would.

He cleared his throat and calmly said," Tonight you will stay here, tomorrow I will decide what to do with you."

" Was I not clear? I am leaving tonight, with or without your blessing." You stated strongly.

You looked around you quickly for an escape route, but at this point the room started to spin and you were almost certain you would only make it a few feet before someone stopped you.

" You are drunk, what good will you be to your brother if you can barely walk without falling, I fear you have not thought this through. My word is final, you shall remain here until I state otherwise."

The King then called out something in Elvish and a guard immediately walked into the dining hall towards you, you were getting sick of being hauled away and of the King getting his way every time.

"Get this girl out of my sight."

"You really are a deplorable man, I have no respect for a creature as heartless as you." You hissed at him as the guard grabbed your arm painfully and pulled you out of the room.  
Outside in the hallway, Elven men and woman had gathered curiously as no doubt they had over heard the altercation between you and their King. They watched you with disgust on their faces as you were dragged in the opposite direction towards the room you had been held in for the past few days.

 

The guard shoved you carelessly through the bedroom door and you stumbled, falling to the floor and hitting your head off of the cold, stone hard. You yelped as the pain ripped through your skull and soon you felt a warm trickle of liquid travel down from your forehead, past your nose and down to your lips. The blood pooled around your lips and when you opened your mouth, you were met with a disgusting metallic tang on your tongue.

You spat the vile liquid out of your mouth and onto the floor next to you, it was clear that the injury was not a serious one as the pain quickly died down, but you were sure it looked a lot worse than it was.

The guard made no attempt to help you himself, instead he shook his head at you in disapproval and closed the heavy wooden door behind him.

Slowly you stumbled to your feet and headed for the bathroom to wash the cut across your forehead, you dampened a wash cloth with some lukewarm water and dabbed it across the injured area. The stinging caused you to hiss in pain, but once the bleeding had died down, you wrung out the now pink tinged water from the cloth and into the basin.

You were furious that the night had taken this turn, never before had you felt such disgust in yourself and you were not sure as to how you were going to come back from it. What made it worse was the once again the King had won, he had you back in his clutches and there was nothing you could do about it, there was no way out.

Walking back into the room, you found it harder to contain your rage, so you let it out the only way that you could, reaching out for the pillows on your bed, you quickly pushed your nails through the thin casing and you tore the material quickly.  
You began to rip it apart until the air was now filled with feathers and the floor was covered from the debris, but still you felt no better, so you kept going, finding objects in the room and smashing, tearing and destroying them until there was nothing left.  
Once you were finished, you collapsed to the floor and rested your back against the wooden bed post and you began to let yourself break down completely. You knew that if you were not intoxicated you would not have reacted this way, it was completely out of character for you to have so little control over your emotions. Although this was probably the truest reflection of how you felt inside and finally you allowed yourself to let it all out. Nothing about your life felt right anymore, you had lost everything that had ever meant anything to you, your home, your family and your life.  
Tears streamed down your face as you closed your eyes and tried to fill your mind with happier memories of a time when you were not burdened with the guilt over your brother leaving you, of your parents dying and for always wanting more than you had to the point where it became destructive. You despised the person you were now slowly becoming, a person that was now always filled with hate, this was not something you were entirely used to and it poisoned your usually kind heart.

You lay in that exact same position for hours, not wanting to move anymore, you felt completely helpless over your future and you felt stupid and ungrateful for ever thinking that you had been so limited in what you could do with your life in Lake-Town. It could never have been worse than the position you were in now.  
The pain from your excessive drinking from the night before was now beginning to take effect in the form of an excruciating headache, but even now you did not regret the words that you had spoken to the King, he had deserved everything that you had told him and more.

  
Images of the kiss flooded your mind, no matter how much you tried to block it out, you could not believe that you had done something so stupid, with someone who had hurt you so badly, you would have done anything to rewrite that moment, to erase it completely. You had not intended to give the King any reason to believe that you might have forgiven him and that you were weak enough to fall for the charm that had most likely trapped so many others before you. Just as you felt like you could get some rest, Serenia appeared from around the door, holding a pitcher of water in her hands. She was not cheerful like she had been the day before, instead her features were laced with worry.

"You look simply awful my Lady and whatever has happened to your forehead?" She walked over and sat in front of you and tenderly traced over the cut with her index finger.

"It is nothing, it looks worse than it feels." You muttered.

" Well even so, I think I ought to clean it to avoid infection." Serenia walked to the bathroom and retrieved a fresh wash cloth, before gently dabbing the cut. "I heard from one of the maids that you got into an argument with the King last night my Lady." You could tell that she was hinting towards you giving her more information. You sighed, not really wishing to get into it.

 "Yes I did, he was being difficult." Serenia placed the cloth down and poured you a glass of chilled water, which you drank quickly, the alcohol had left you feeling severely dehydrated.

" Is it true that he brought you here against your will?" Serenia kept pushing, you could tell that she would not be giving up until she had heard the full story.

" Yes it is true, he forced me to abandon my only remaining family." You reached out and poured yourself more water, hoping that this would help keep your headache at bay. "That is truely awful my Lady, I assure you I did not know." Serenia looked at you with pity in her eyes, you had grown tired of people looking at you in that way. You could feel yourself getting wound tighter and tighter, even though you knew that the sweet girl had no intention of irritating you, you still could feel yourself losing patience with her. At this moment you felt no less angry than you had the night before and you knew that you would project this onto anyone, no matter who it was. Luckily there was another knock at the door, even though you were annoyed that there was now another person here, at least you avoided shouting at Serenia. An unfamiliar Elven man entered the room, he was not a guard, but he looked like he was an important man.

This man was an older Elf, he had soft green eyes and long mousy brown hair, he was by no means good looking, but he had a kind face. "Do excuse me Serenia, but may I have a word with (F/N ) in private, it will only take a moment."

Serenia seemed slightly annoyed by the sudden interruption, but she nodded softly, got to her feet and left you alone with the stranger. You attempted to get to your feet as to not look rude, but you felt dizzy and found yourself sitting back down again.

"Please do not get up on my account (F/N), my name is Eleros and I am King Thranduil's royal adviser." He introduced himself warmly.

"It is nice to meet you, Eleros." You responded, trying to convey a sense of politeness, this man seemed kind, so you did not wish to be standoffish and offend him. "I have come to inform you that King Thranduil left this morning with a group of men, to find your brother."

You could not believe what you were hearing, maybe what had happened last night had caused the King to reconsider his actions, but part of you seemed to have a feeling that this was too good to be true. After all that had happened last night, it made no sense to you that he would suddenly have a change of heart and try to keep his word. On top of this, the fact that he did not bring you along to help with the search irritated you, what good were you here?

"Am I supposed to feel grateful for this? If the King had fulfilled his promise and looked for my brother the day he left, then maybe he would be safe with me by now." You knew that this man was only the messenger, so you did not wish to take your anger out on him, but it was difficult for you to contain it.

"I am guessing that the King did not tell you this as he perhaps did not want you to worry, but he did send four men out to look for him on the very day you were brought here, but there was no sign of him." Eleros responded.

Why did the King not tell you that himself yesterday when you accused him of forgetting the promise that he had made to you, the fact that he kept his word was shocking and you were finding the new information difficult to process. The fact that he had sent men after your brother and they had found nothing troubled you deeply, surely he would not have gotten far from the camp in that time scale. Perhaps he had hidden in a cave somewhere to calm down and had returned to camp later on for food and shelter, only to be caught up in the middle of a battle he was not even aware had been approaching fast. That had not been an option you had considered before and it terrified you to think that he would have had to face something so horrific alone. You hoped that he had not tried to return to camp, but instead saw the approaching armies and fled in the opposite direction, your brother had always been an intelligent boy, which is why you clung to the hope that he could still be alive somewhere.

"Am I to just remain here until they return?" You inquired.

The response he gave was even more surprising than the revaluation that the King was actually trying to help you.

" No ( F/N), the King has instructed me that you are free to leave when you wish, although in my opinion, I think it would be wise to remain here in case your brother is found."

You did not pretend to understand why the King was now letting you away so easily, but you did not care why he did it, you were just thrilled that it happened. Eleros did make a good point about the fact that if they found him you would not be there to retrieve him, but you knew your brother better than anyone, so if he was going to be found, it would be by your hand. You worried that even if you found your brother, he may not want to be found by you, perhaps he might still hold a grudge against you and continue to blame you for the death of your parents. It was a thought that had crossed your mind on several occasions, but you hoped that he would no longer think of you as a monster, but instead as a dedicated sibling who would stop at nothing to find him.

"I wish to go after him myself." You responded, it was not a difficult decision to make, there was no question that you would be going after him, it was your duty to find him and protect him. Eleros did not seem convinced that you were making a wise decision, but he could see the determination in your eyes and knew that there was nothing he could do to stop you.

"Very well, I shall have Serenia fetch you some supplies and I will have a horse prepared and saddled for your departure. When you are ready the guard will escort you to the stables." He was about to walk out the door, when he turned back around.

" The King regrets his behaviour (F/N ) and he is trying his best to rectify it."

"That may be so Eleros, but what is done is done, I do not think he can change my opinion of him." Eleros nodded his head understandingly and then took his leave.

You meant what you had said, it was because of the King that your brothers trail had gone cold, if he had acted when you pleaded for him to free you, then the situation would not have escalated like this. You did not feel that your opinion of him could ever change for the better, he would always be known to you as the man that put a barrier between you and your family, which was unforgivable. You felt a small sense of relief come over you as you had finally been given your wish, but it was short lived as you realized that finding him would not be easy and so many things could go wrong. You were terrified to think of what you might encounter out there on your own, you had never used a sword or a bow and arrow before, so you were not sure how you were going to defend yourself against beings that may wish to cause you harm. Though all of this did not even factor into your decision, you would do anything to find him, no matter what it would cost you.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient and sorry for keeping you all waiting.
> 
> This chapter is a little short, but i will have the next update by the 23rd of March at the latest. I was going to have it finished earlier, but I have to work all weekend.  
> As always, thanks for the kudos, comments and of course, for reading! :)

A short while after Eleros had left the room, Serenia reappeared with a large, brown bag containing all of the supplies you were being provided with for your journey. You had not been expecting such generosity from the Elven community after the altercation the night before with their King, but you were grateful for their kindness. Without their help, you were almost certain you would not survive, as an unexperienced traveller, you needed all of the assistance you could get.

The bag contained a weeks worth of food and water, two changes of clothing and four medium sized jars whose contents were a mystery to you.  
Taking hold of one of the jars, you removed the lid and investigated the odourless, viscous liquid inside curiously.  
" What is this?" You inquired.

"Those are used to aid in the healing process my Lady, but I am hopeful that you shall be fortunate enough to have no use for them." Serenia smiled at you weakly, it was clear that she was worried for you and you found her concern sweet. Never before had you met someone as genuinely kind as her and her warm energy calmed your nerves slightly regarding your upcoming journey.

You were slightly saddened that your departure meant you could not persue a friendship with Serenia, you were certain that over time you would have become quite close with her. Once you had found your brother, you had no intention of returning here to Mirkwood, so this was likely to be the last time you would see her and you were sure that Serenia knew that too.

"Do not worry for me Serenia, nothing bad will come my way, I am sure of it." You tried to sound sincere when you said it, but you knew yourself that it was unlikely you would come out the other end of this entirely unscathed.  
Serenia saw right through the false hope you had given her, but she did not mention it, instead she wrapped her arms around you in an affectionate embrace.

"Be safe my Lady, I hope you find your brother safe and well."

You returned the embrace, "So do I."

 

Once Serenia had hesitantly left , you decided it would be best to change out of the gown you had been wearing the night before and switch it for the more practical clothing you had been provided with. The clothes were simple and were by no means as elaborate and colourful as your gown had been, but you found yourself preferring them already. They were comfortable and allowed room for much more movement than the restricting, suffocating dress from the night before.

You still felt terrible from your over indulgence of the alcohol from the celebration and you still had the sour taste of wine lingering on your tongue, but you fought through the looming nausea the best that you could and concentrated on the task at hand.

You had not been provided with any weaponry so far and that started to concern you, you feared that perhaps the Elven hospitality had worn thin and you were going to have to try and acquire some yourself. You had never had to purchase weapons before, so you were unsure of how you were going to find some, but you figured if you had to, you would ride to the nearest town and attempt to get some there. Even then though, you knew nothing of swords or bows, so you would have no idea what to purchase.

 

Once you had gathered your bag, you were escorted through the Elven halls by a guard and out the main gate, towards the stables.  
Upon exiting halls you appreciated the freshness of the cool morning air as it struck you instantly, the soft chirping of the birds that sung melodically and the rustling of the leaves as the wind mildly disrupted them. Never before had you missed being outside as much as you had right at that moment. At some points during your captivity you had started to believe that you would be bound to that room forever, never to see the daylight again.  
Taking in a long breath, you immediately started to feel better and your nausea from earlier slowly began to fade. You were so grateful for this as you could think much more clearly now.

Although your nerves regarding the journey were over powering, you felt a small hint of positivity shining through, perhaps things were finally beginning to look up for you. You had been set free and you were able to search for your brother, two things you had thought had been out of your hands, but now you were back in control of your future and it was amazing.

Glancing up at the sky, you could see heavy cloud cover in the distance, it was far enough away at the moment that it did not concern you, but if it were to continue in your direction it could potentially be quite a serious storm.

The force of the wind began to pick up gradually as you made your way through the dense trees and along a make-shift pathway between them. The earth beneath your feet was soft and the wet dirt clung to the bottom of your boots.  
You figured that it must have rained not long before you left the Elven halls as rain drops dripped onto your head from the leaves of the vast canopy above you.  
The sky blue above you had turned an almost purplish hue as the clouds slowly crept closer towards the grounds, the different tones in the sky were beautiful.  
Just being amoungst nature again was enough to elevate your spirits, you became more optimistic the longer you were outside, you could not explain it.

Soon the trees became more sparse and they opened up to a large, lush grassy clearing.

The stables stood in the centre of the clearing and standing outside them was Eleros holding the reins of a large black horse.  
You approached hurriedly, eager to get on the road as fast as possible, despite your growing reservations.

Eleros waved his hand and dismissed the guard quickly.

"Miss (F/N ), I have your horse saddled and ready for your departure."

"Thank you Eleros, you are most kind." You responded, taking the reins of the black stallion out of Eleros' hand.

" Are you quite prepared for your journey?" Eleros inquired.

" I have almost everything that I require, aside from weaponary."

"Well then you are hardly prepared at all, many dangers lurk outside these grounds, without weapons I would not expect you to survive the night." He responded bluntly.

"Luckily for you, I have taken the liberty of bringing some down here for you."

Eleros opened up the stables, walked inside and you could hear him rummaging around for the weapons. Moments later, he returned holding a sword and some throwing knifes.

"This is a light weight, double edged sword, but it holds as much power as it's larger counter parts, it may not look like much, but it is as sharp as a thousand blades." He held out the sword for you to take, you dropped the horses reins, took the weapon and you examined it carefully.

You had never held a sword before and you were pleasantly surprised by the weight of it, not too light, but not too heavy. Carefully you traced your index finger over the cold metal and then gently to one of it's sharp sides. Instantly the keen blade sliced through your finger tip as though it went through butter. You hissed and quickly retracted your finger and noticed scarlet beads of blood dripping from it, the blade most certainly was sharp.

Holding the sword out infront of you, you admired how the sunlight caught each tone of silver in the blade and the light played off it menacingly.  
The long, thick handle was silver, with golden ivy wrapped around it, it was truly a beautiful weapon.

Hesitantly, you tried a couple of practice swings and it was not as easy as you had first thought, it was hard to keep your balance and follow through with the blow as powerfully as you could.

"(F/N ), you have used a sword before?" Eleros asked with a concerned look across his face.

You felt slightly embarrassed by your obvious lack of skills," No, I have never had the need to do so."

"I do not know what your chances of survival will be without basic weapons and combat training." Eleros muttered.

He was right of course, it was a thought that had crossed your mind a few times, but you had pushed it aside knowing that there was nothing you could do about it.

"Perhaps you would be willing to show me some basic steps." You asked him hopefully.

Eleros sighed, knowing that the little training would not be worth much, but at least it would be something. He was not the kind of Elf that would send someone out on their own completely unprepared.

"I shall try, but I do not know how much I can teach you in such little time." Eleros then proceeded to search the floor of the clearing, you were unsure of what for and you watched him curiously.

Eleros returned after finding what he had been looking for, two large sticks and he handed one to you.

"It would be best to sheath your weapon before we proceed, you are not yet ready to handle a blade, I fear you might accidentally impale yourself." He chuckled humorously.

Surely you had not been that awful with the weapon?

After the sword had been securely put away, you focused all of your attention on Eleros' teachings as at some point your life could be threatened and you would have to rely on what you learned here today.

"First of all, to have a chance in any sword fight, you must have good balance and be fast on your feet. Stance is everything." Eleros proceeded to demonstrate by standing firmly upright with his legs apart so show what a strong stance would look like.

" Then, holding the sword firmly with our two hands, raise it up in front of you, so that the handle is just above your waist. You never want to have your blade stray to far from your centre , as you never know where the next strike may come from."

You mimicked his every action carefully, everything he was saying made perfect sense to you and you could feel yourself becoming more confident by the minute.

 

Eleros took you through different maneuvers needed in combat step by step, from blocking, evading, counter striking and the best areas on the body to strike to almost ensure a kill. It was tough and all your failures frustrated you, but you found yourself picking it up very quickly and after much practice with the sticks, you were certain that you were now ready to use the sword. You may not be perfect yet, but you had not expected to be, being better than you were would have been nothing short of a miracle.

"You are improving greatly, (F/N), but I still fear that it is not enough, against a skilled fighter you do not have much of a chance." He sighed defeatedly.

"If you would just hold off on your journey for a couple of days, I could prepare you better....." Eleros started, but you were quick to interject, knowing where he was going with this.  
"Stop, Eleros.....you know I cannot do that."

"I am concerned for your well being and I know that the King would worry knowing that you are out there with so little training."

"I am thankful for all that you have shown me Eleros, but I cannot do anything more, I must leave today and I will be part of no discussion that will be saying otherwise."

"I understand, there is nothing I can say that will change your mind, but I had to try." Eleros looked at you with concern, he knew there was nothing more he could do for you and he was almost tempted to go with you on your quest, but he knew that his place was here. If he were to abandon his post so suddenly, the King would not be so forgiving when he returned, someone had to make sure that all continued to run smoothly in the Elven halls.

"Your concern for my well being is touching Eleros, but do not fret, I shall be fine." You smiled at him warmly, after your training, as little as it was that you recieved, you still felt much more prepared than you had done before. The new confidence you felt with the weapon was empowering and you almost felt ready for whatever could be thrown at you.

"You best be on your way (F/N), that storm is fast approaching and shall be upon us in a matter of hours." Eleros pointed towards black paved sky not far now in the distance.

"Stay safe and when the storm hits, you would be best to find shelter." He advised you.

................................................................................................

 

It had been two long hours since you had left the safety of the Elven halls and the storm was almost upon you.  
The whole environment around you began to change quickly, the birds no longer chirped from their perches and in fact there was no wildlife in sight.  
An unsettling silence had fallen upon the forest, as though every creature knew what was about to come and had fled to safety.

The large trees above you began to moan and creak from the pressure of the growing wind slamming against them.  
Leaves swept off of the ground, were torn from the trees and they whirled around your face so that you found it difficult to see far ahead of you.  
The forest grew increasingly darker as the clouds finally covered the sky above you, eclipsing the sun so that barely any light broke through.  
Your horse could sense the upcoming danger and it became increasingly nervous as you trotted at a slow pace through the maze like trees. It let out an anxious whine as a massive gust of wind tore through the trees, ripping off small branches and throwing them to the ground.  
You stretched out your hand and ran your fingers through it's soft black mane in an attempt to comfort the startled animal.  
"There, there." You muttered. "Do not fret, no harm will come to you."

You knew that you had very little time to find shelter, in a matter of moments the storm could release it's rage upon you to it's full potential.

Gently tapping your feet against the horses body, you coaxed it to pick up speed and you looked around you for a cave or any form of shelter for the next few hours until the storm died down.

 

After a while of wandering the forest, you came across nothing and you were starting to become desperate now, the weather was becoming increasingly worse by the minute.  
The rain started to fall and it pattered off the ground, gently at first, but then it increased in force and within moments you were completely drenched and shivering.  
The wind rushed against your face forcefully, sending your ( H/L) hair flying, until the wet strands clung to your face.  
Soon it was almost impossible to stay on your horse as the heavy gale battered you from every angle, you held on for dear life as the horse darted through the trees frantically.  
Out of nowhere, thunder rolled across the charcoal sky, booming so loudly that you swore the very ground beneath you vibrated and shook.  
The horse reared up onto it's back legs in terror, which almost sent you crashing down onto the wet forest floor, but at the last moment you reached out and wrapped your arms around it's neck and clung on for safety.

Darkness surrounded you now, the rain thrashed you from every direction and it fell so heavily that it felt painful against your shivering skin.  
You were beginning to panic , you had no idea where you were, you had strayed from the path Eleros had told you to follow and now you were lost.

A magnificent blue flash above you lit up the black sky in an eerie glow, before disappearing as fast as it came.

The sounds of the wind were almost deafening as it whirled, howled and shrieked past your ears, picking up debris as it went along its destructive path.

You were terrified, not so much of the storm, but about where you might end up, your horse continued on through the murky forest with no sign of letting up.

Another explosion of light erupted across the sky, this time it was so bright that you could see your surroundings clearly, not that it helped you figure out where you were.

Just when you thought that all hope was lost, in the distance you could swear you saw a soft orange glow, perhaps a lantern of some kind? It was hard to tell from this distance and the fact that the wind and rain were distorting your vision, but you decided to head towards it anyway.

It was difficult to keep the horse under control as the poor animals nerves were completely shot, no mattered what way you tried to steer it, the creature tried to veer off in the opposite direction.

This animal was making it more difficult for you to get anywhere and it was taking you further away from the mysterious light, you yanked on the reins in an attempt to stop it, but it kept on going.

Another violent roll of thunder crashed through the air, sending waves of tremors through the trees and this time your horse had had enough.  
Rearing onto it's back legs, it finally manage to shake you and you fell to the forest floor heavily, hitting the side of your head off of some thick tree roots. The horse shot off into the wilderness, leaving you alone amoungst one of the worst storms you had encountered in your life.  
You lay there petrified, the only thing you had with you was your sword, the horse had your bag still attached to it's back, so now you had no food, water or medicine for the rest of your trip.

You wiped the water out of your eyes and you strained to look and see if the light was still there, but to your dismay it was nowhere in sight, you must have been seeing things.

You could not help but feel that perhaps the vexing storm, your horse running away and loosing your supplies was some kind of sign, perhaps a bad omen over things to come. You had known that this trip would not be easy for you, but it seemed that the universe purposefully continued to put obstacles in your path. You were only a few hours in and already everything began to fall apart at the seams.  
Pushing these thoughts out of your mind for the moment, you pushed against the force of the wind and got to your feet. You were not going to let these events defeat you, you had to find your brother and nothing was going to stop you, but for now you had to find some shelter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this is late again, I normally write this on my phone and it doesn't let me save drafts, so the page refreshed and deleted the entire chapter that I had written! :( So I had to find the time to rewrite the whole thing again.
> 
> Again thank you all for being so patient, for the comments, Kudos and for reading!

The ferocious storm continued to batter you mercilessly and it seemed that for every few steps that you managed to take, you were set back a further one.  
The heavy rainfall bruised your skin as it fell sharply to the ground and the ferocious winds sent your damp hair flying in every possible direction and it clung to your face.  
The storm was beginning to anger you now, as if your journey was not hard enough already, even the elements were not on your side, but nothing these days seemed to be.

You looked up at the pitch black sky and immediately felt like an insect on the ground, never before had you felt so small and insignificant as you did in that moment. It was as though mother nature herself had decided to punish the creatures below for some unknown reason, as she thrashed the ground in a fit of fury and hatred. The storm was unlike any other you had witnessed and it grated on your nerves to the point that you could hardly take it any longer.  
It would not have taken much for you to have given up right there and then, in your situation many might have done, it took all your strength not to just lay down and let the storm have dominion over you completely.  
That however, was not who you were and you planned to fight until your body was no longer able to move another step.

The freezing winds caused a painful chill to take hold of your skin in an unbearable embrace, it froze you to your core to the point where you wanted to scream out in pain. Your fingers had become numb from it and in a feeble attempt to warm up your frozen digits, you pulled the sleeves of your dress down and over your hands. It did not help much, but at this point you would have tried anything.

In your desperation, you said a silent prayer to no one in particular, that you would make it out of this malicious storm alive and well, but your hope was fading fast.  
For a brief moment, you wished that you had listened to Eleros and stayed within the safe confines of the Elven halls, at least until the storm had past, but your stubborn nature had prevailed again. You thought of your young brother, who would most likely be in the same position that you were, alone and cold amongst the horrifying storm and that thought pushed you onward. It was hard to imagine that a young boy would have been able to survive this long on his own, but you hoped that perhaps he had found a town and a kind stranger would have taken him in and given him a safe place to lay his head down at night. If so, you just hoped that you would be able to find him and that he had forgiven you by now and perhaps even missed you. Thinking of any alternatives to these pleasant scenarios that you had fabricated in your mind was not an option for you, these were the only things that were keeping you sane.

It occurred to you as to how much you had changed in the last few days, gone was the reserved and naive girl from Lake-Town and in her place was a strong and determined woman who would stop at nothing to do what was right. You just hoped that this cruel world would not change you for the worst and turn you into a cynical and hardened being who trusted nothing around her.  
You silently cursed yourself for not taking a more open route and had instead opted for a path through the woodland, thinking that it would provide you with more shelter from danger. Instead of it working to your advantage, it had made everything so much more difficult for you. If you had decided to travel a different route, you may have stumbled across a town by now and could be warming your hands by the fireplace,eating warm soup and resting in a comforting tavern somewhere. This thought only added to your misery, so you pushed the comforting images from your mind quickly as they did more damage to your well being than good.  
Being out in the wilderness alone had never been something that you had ever had to face when you still lived in Lake-Town. If you had needed to go anywhere further than the market, you were escorted by your father or one of his friends. So nothing in your life had mentally prepared you for what you were now facing, you had been thrown into the deep end without so much as a safety net.

An ear shattering crack erupted in the endless sky above you as forks of bright purple lightening burst through the clouds and faded quickly. You were sure you were imagining it, but the lightening appeared to be getting closer to you each time it struck.

You tried to speed up, hoping that soon you would stumble across some kind of shelter as you were unsure of how much more of this you could handle. As you did so however, you stumbled more often over roots and small stones that littered the mushy forest floor. You were not normally such a clumsy person, but even the most able footed being would find this obstacle course difficult to overcome. By now your exposed knees oozed blood, your arms and face were covered in varies sizes of cuts and scratches from where razor sharp twigs whipped your body, but the pain was tolerable. You put this down to the fact that your body had become numb from the cold, when you warmed up then perhaps the pain would have more of an effect on you.

Another shot of lightening whizzed through the clouds, but this time it hit a large, ancient tree behind you which caused you to jump in terror. You shot around quickly and you saw bellows of smoke rise from its branches as they burned with a loud crackle. The breeze sent the sharp smokey smell to your nostrils and you wrinkled your nose in disgust. The proximity of the lightening strike made you shudder with fear, that could have just as easily been you.  
You did not want your death to be out here in the wilderness, it was not how you imagined your end, instead you hoped for something more heroic and dignified. Dying out here would just prove to those who had ever doubted you that you were incapable of taking care of yourself.  
Dying without finding your brother was not something you even wanted to think about, saving him was the only thing that gave your life purpose at the moment.

Pushing onward through the eerie ambiance of the woodland that isolated you from the rest of the world, you kept hearing noises that set you on edge.  
During your heightened state your senses were going wild to the point where you could hear every twig snap, every leave rustle and each rain drop as it crashed heavily to the ground.  
What terrified you most was the you were unable to tell the difference between the noises made by the storm and those that were possibly made by someone or something else.

You were well aware that you were by no means a skilled fighter, in fact you were quite the opposite, having had only one training session a few hours before, but even the little skill that you possessed would fall flat if you were attacked under the current conditions. You just hoped that no further danger would face you until you were rid of the storm and the god forsaken woods, as if you were attacked you had a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that you would not survive the encounter.

Even though the woodland was filled with noises, from the screeching of the wind, to the roar of the thunder, it seemed to be void of all life other than your own. Since the storm had struck you had not seen or heard of any wildlife and the feeling of loneliness crashed over you like a tidal wave. If you had brought a companion along with you on your quest then you would not have had to suffer alone, but you realized how selfish this thought was. You would not have wished to subject another being to such torment that you were being forced to endure, no matter how much secure you would have felt with their presence alongside you.

A loud crunch only a few feet behind you caught your attention and you swung around quickly to try and figure out the source of the sound, it was not like the sounds that the storm had been making, but rather the weight of someone or something breaking a branch on the forest floor. Peering through the wall of rain and black that blocked your vision, your eyes darted desperately as you tried to locate whatever that was out there and as a precaution you placed your shaking hand on the handle of your blade.

Just as you were about to take a step in the direction of the intruding sound, the treeline in front of you broke as a grey horse with a wild look in it's eyes dashed out and headed straight for you with tremendous speed. Your heart pounded loudly as you stood frozen to the spot, there was no way you could get out of it's way as it was coming to fast, so you threw your arms in front of your face as though this would somehow help. Time slowed as you awaited the agony of the horses heavy hooves and weight to crash into your face and trample you in a slow and excruciating death.  
It occurred to you in those few moments of people that you had encounter who told stories of how their entire lives flashed before their eyes in a near death experience and you now found that they were right. You found yourself overcome with an intense feeling of guilt, regret and disappointment as you thought of how you had spent your few years upon the earth and it saddened you to think that only in the last few days had you really lived. It had taken a great tragedy for you to go off on your own and find a cause worth fighting for, but even that you could not accomplish. You thought of your mother and father, how they would have wanted you to care for your brother when their lives ended and you had lost him within such a short period of time, if they were here they would have nothing but disappointment for you. You hoped though that the fact that you tried to find him would count for something, but you were doubtful.

You awaited the pain, but surprisingly it did not come, instead you felt something slither around your waist and roughly tug you upwards, but you were still in shock and could not bring yourself to open your eyes. Underneath you now you could feel the thud of a creature moving quickly through the forest and when you put your hand down you could feel damp fur beneath your fingers. Finally you managed to open your eyes and you were astounded to see that you were atop of the very creature you thought would have ushered the complete end of your life. Behind you now you were very much aware of a presence brushing against your back and you could see two hands in front of you holding the horses reins tightly.  
You tried to turn around but you were met with an angry male voice.  
" Sit still or you will fall!" The voice commanded, but it was barely audible over the constant rush of the wind.

" Who are you?" You tried to shout back, but your words were swept away and sounded more like a whisper, so the strange man did not hear you.  
Several times you tried to get an answer out of him, but each time you did not exceed and decided instead to sit in silence and contemplate this strangers intentions. He had in fact saved you, but the man could have had many reasons for doing so and they may not have been good, you shuddered as a few ideas jumped into your head, but you pushed them away before you worked yourself up too much.  
You wondered where it was that the stranger was heading, but you hoped he had some kind of shelter in mind and was not as lost as I had been and now we were both just aimlessly moving through the woods. You were then reminded of the orange light you had seem a while ago and wondered it that had perhaps been your savior, if that was what he was.  
You shivered as the clouds sent down another devastating shower of rain, you were sure that by now you were turning a blueish colour and you tried to wrap your torn dress around yourself to cover as much of your cold and goosebumped flesh as you could. These efforts were to no avail though as the cold continued to cause you grief and the stranger behind you seemed to sense your discomfort. The man moved as close as he could to your shivering body and shifted slighted so that the grey cloak he was wearing covered your exposed shoulders and arms. The close proximity to this man made you feel extremely uncomfortable, but the sudden warmth that rushed over your body was intoxicating and even if your mind tried to fight it, your body would not allow you to. So instead you allowed the strange mans embrace for the sake of survival.

The journey passed quicker than you would have thought and soon the man was pulling roughly on the reins, forcing the horse to stop suddenly. The river of mud that caked the forest floor caused the horse to slide a bit and you feared that it would fall, but luckily it kept it's footing well.  
After a few moments, you felt movement behind you as the stranger dismounted the horse and landed on the floor lightly, it took you a few seconds before you could bring yourself to look at him as you were still unaware or who or what he was.  
When you eventually decided to look you found yourself to be disappointed as you could not see the man's face at all, he was clad head to toe in a heavy grey cloak, which had a large hood that concealed his face from you. The man appeared quite sinister in his appearance, but you knew he was just dressed this way to protect himself from the varies elements that were reeking havoc across the land.  
The man held the horses reins securely in one hand and he held the other out to you in order to assist you in dismounting the creature, but you declined his offer, finding that doing it yourself would prove that you are capable of taking care of yourself. Once you were off, you realized that this man was far taller than yourself and it was quite intimidating, so you moved away from him a few steps and let him lead you to where it was that you were going. You figured that being behind the man was a much safer stance to take, in case he tried anything.

Perhaps following the strange man was not a very wise move, for all you knew he could have a group of others waiting not far in the darkness, possibly a group of mercenaries who would take pleasure in killing you or worse try to take pleasure in your body, but something told you that this was not the case.  
Even so, your hand never left the handle of your blade in case you found that you had to protect yourself.

The man seemed slightly insulted by your blatant rejection of his intended kindness, but he just shrugged his shoulders lightly,turned away from you and began leading the animal a few feet into the darkness and you followed closely behind.  
Soon it became clear where you were heading, hidden amongst a group of trees that grew closely together just beside a large hill was a cluster of huge rocks that concealed the entrance to a small cave opening. If you had not been specifically looking for it, then it would have been unlikely that you would have noticed it at all, which was an advantage if anything came by looking for trouble.

The cave opening was too small for the large horse to fit through, so the man reluctantly tied the frightened animal to an oak tree only a few steps from the cave entrance and then proceeded to disappear into the cave himself.  
Taking a deep breath to try and calm your unsteady nerves, you followed him into the dark abyss cautiously, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious that would alert you to any kind of danger he could be leading you towards.

You did not think it was possible, but inside the cave the temperatures dropped to become much colder than it had been outside, but there was shelter from the wind in here so it was not as unpleasant as it had been outside. The smell of varies molds and fungi reached your nose and it was worsened by the thick humidity that hung in the air. Outside had been dark, but it was nothing compared to the darkness that surrounded you now, it was practically impossible to see, so you stuck closely to the damp cave wall and felt your way the best that you could through the darkness.  
Luckily though, the man moved though the cave much faster than you and had managed to light a small fire, which illuminated the cave enough so that you could take in your surroundings much more clearly, you figured that he must have been here before and perhaps he had been the source of the orange light you had witnessed before.  
The cave looked eerie now as long rock formations hung menacingly from the ceiling, some looked so fragile that they could fall and impale you at any moment. With the light of the fire, shadows were sent dancing across the cave walls and looked like creepy figures trying to reach out and grab you.  
It had fallen silent now, you were far enough inside the cave so that the storm that raged on outside was almost completely inaudible and all you could here was the dripping sound of beads of water that fell from the ceiling and onto the floor, making a small echo as they did so.

By now the stranger was kneeling by the fire and had stretched out his reddish hands so that they were just above the flames in an attempt to heat them up quickly. The warm glow of the fire was too much to resist, so you decided to join the man and regain some heat into your numb body.  
You sat opposite him and for a while there was an awkward silence, you desperately wanted to same something as to try and figure out who this man was, but each time you went to open your mouth you quickly closed it again, as if you were scared to discover his answer.  
Fortunately for you, it was the man himself who decided to break the tension between you, he pulled his hood down to expose his face and reach out a hand to introduce himself.  
He was not at all what you had been expecting, he did not look evil at all, even though you did not have to look evil to do evil things, but he did not strike you as someone who would.  
The man was an elf and had long, straight silvery white hair, he was lean and had striking icy blue eyes and his features on his face were sharp. He looked so familiar to you, he resembled King Thranduil remarkably in so many ways, but he seemed to be much younger and had a softer look in his eyes.

" I am Legolas, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."  
You shook his now warm hand and replied, " I am (F/N), hopefully it is nice to meet you, but I am yet to be sure of it."

Legolas chuckled lightly, " You are cautious, I do not blame you, but I hope I am able to convince you that I mean you no harm."  
" How can you be so sure that I am not a threat?" As soon as you said it you felt stupid, if he had not have thought it before, your comment would surely convince him to become more guarded now.

It took Legolas a moment to come up with a response as though he was unsure himself as to why he did not find your presence to be threatening. " I am not sure, perhaps because if you meant me harm, you would have done so by now."

Silence ensued again as you found it difficult to think of anything to ask the man, but again he quickly came to your aid and stopped the awkward tension from settling in again.

" Pray tell me ( F/N ), why is it that you have come to be in the woodland without so much as a horse?"

" I had a horse, but the storm caused it to throw me from the saddle." You explained, you were not sure if telling Legolas about your quest was a wise idea, but he continued to pester you for answers until you finally gave in.

" I am looking for my brother, I lost track of him some time ago on the grounds of the most recent battle, sadly I was unable to look for him until earlier today."

" What prevented you?" He asked curiously.

" I was taken against my will to Mirkwood as the King and I had a disagreement." This last statement seemed to peak his curiosity and he shifted uncomfortably as though he was starting to think he had misjudged you entirely and that you could potentially be some kind of criminal.

" Disagreement?" He raised an eyebrow and stared at you intensely.

" Yes the King wished to take me to Mirkwood in an attempt to save me from the oncoming battle and when I declined his offer he became furious and had me taken there by force."

Legolas fell silent as he seemed shocked by your words, you were unsure why he had become so affected by what you had told him. He shook his head as though he was disappointed by something and then muttered under his breath " ...oh Ada.."

You did not speak Elvish so you were unsure as to what he meant, " Ada?" You questioned.

Legolas looked up at you with guilt in his eyes as though it had been him himself you had taken you captive, " Yes, the King is my father." He responded sheepishly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for taking so long with this update. With end of year exams and work I found it very hard to find the time to finish writing the chapter. I have no intention of abandoning this story, so rest assured I will continue to update it.
> 
> This chapter was pretty short, so the next one will be much longer.  
> Thank you all for remaining so patient, for the kudos, comments and for reading!

The atmosphere inside the small cave thickened quickly, until it almost made you feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic.  
You felt so stupid, it was not like you to overlook details such as this, and of course Legolas was the King's son. Your cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and you avoided looking at him the best that you could, from the corner of your eye you could see that he was attempting to do the same.

An enormous feeling of regret flooded over you as you reflected upon what you had just said, it was in no way your intention to burden Legolas with this. It was most certainly not your place to speak ill of his father, even though you were unsure of how well their relationship was, you did not want to complicate things further. What had happened was between the King and yourself, you had no desire to bring another party into the complicated situation.

The silence that followed Legolas's last statement was verging on unbearable, you shifted uncomfortably where you sat and pondered what to say next, but not much came to mind that would quickly fix the problem.

"Legolas.....if I had known......" You muttered.

Before you could finish your sentence, he interrupted you. “Please (F/N) do not feel bad for me, I am merely embarrassed by my father’s actions...you have nothing to apologise for." You could read his expression like an open book; he pitied you and was ashamed by his father’s actions.

"This is not your burden to bare, I am sure the King had his reasons for doing what he did." You tried to sympathize, the words tasted bitter like poison as they left your tongue.

Legolas let out a pained sigh, knowing as well as you did that this was untrue. “My father has not always been this way, the evil in this world has started to taint his kind spirit.....but that is no excuse."

“I cannot condone his actions, but it seems as though he is trying to right his past wrongs, he freed me and is trying to find my brother." It was irritating to you that you had to try and make excuses for this man, but you felt that it was the right thing to do; you were still unsure whether the King's motives were not pure. Or if it was just a selfish act in order to clear his conscience.

“I am just hopeful that he has not left his change of heart too late, if so then he will have to live with that for the rest of time." Legolas spoke softly, knowing that there was no way this situation could be taken lightly. A young boys life was now at stake and all because of his father’s selfish, reckless actions.

Each time Legolas witnessed his father’s heart grow cold, he grew more and more saddened by it. It was hard not to imagine that one day his father would become nothing more than a shell. Void completely of mercy and understanding, the man he was once did no longer exist. Legolas held on to the hope though, that perhaps someone might be more successful than he in turning him around. Legolas had always been very fond of his father, but his recent behaviours had caused him to start to question that fondness.

Hours passed inside the dark cave, you passed in and out of sleep fitfully throughout the night as the last of the storm began to pass. Strong winds howled through the cave, causing you to shiver and you wrapped your arms around yourself for warmth. Occasionally you awoke with barely any recollection of where you were, but that feeling passed quickly within a few seconds and the pain of reality struck you once more.  
Sleeping was the most pleasant pass time you had now, it made it seem as though all of these horrific days had been some deranged nightmare made up by your subconscious and that soon you would wake up and it would all be over. You would be transported to different places, in different times and a golden happiness would flow through your veins as you enjoyed every moment of it. Nothing would matter in those few blissful moments and you were filled with a sense of immortality. You could not be touched here, it was your world and you could control everything in it. Unfortunately that was not the case, which made going back to sleep all the more difficult.  
When you finally awoke for the day, small rays of sunshine danced through the opening of the cave and lit up the rocky floor. The fire from the night before seemed to have only just gone out as small wisps of smoke drifted upwards elegantly, before dispersing and fading into nothing.  
Getting to your feet, you stretched out your body, the hard floor had been awful on your back which was no surprise to you, but the stretch seemed to have helped a little. By now your body had grown accustomed to discomfort and so you were able to handle it with less fuss each time. It was not as though your own bed back in Lake Town had been particularly comfortable either. Coming from such a poor family, your bed had consisted of a thin layer of straw accompanied by a thin blanket woven from scratchy materials by your mother. Whenever you had complained though, you would always be reminded that many people would love just to have a bed at all.

Looking around you, it took you little time for you to notice that Legolas was gone, your heart dropped a little as you didn't like the idea of going out on your own again. You had made it this far on your own and you were sure you could continue to survive that way, but the company had been nice while it had lasted. Even though you knew little about your new companion, it was hard not to feel as though his soul was a good one just by looking at him.

After further investigation you noticed that his over coat was still laying on the cave floor, so perhaps he had not left after all. Perhaps he had gone to check on his horse.

You made your way to the cave entrance and immediately screwed your eyes shut against the blaring morning sun. Being in the darkness of the cave all night had not prepared you for the intense sunshine, so it took you a few seconds to get used to it. Not to mentioned that such a beautiful day was not something you had anticipated after the storm that had just torn through this area only hours before, still though you were not complaining.

When you stepped out into the light, you saw that your clothes were tattered, torn and covered in mud, but there was nothing you could do about it being as you had lost all of your previsions. You were sure you resembled some kind of wild animal that had fought its way out of a hunters trap and scurried away to freedom. Now though, you felt like your appearance truly reflected the torment you had encountered on your last few days, not that that realisation helped your comfort levels in any way.

The forest surrounding the cave was a sad sight to behold, trees that had once stood tall and proud for hundreds of years, were now uprooted and lay dead upon the forest floor.  
Flowers had been ripped from the ground, leaves had left the trees empty and barren, it was as though an army had swept through and massacred everything in its path.  
The aftermath of the storm was in itself quite beautiful in its own destructive way. Yes it had destroyed so much, but it gave way for a new generation of plants to grow and completely reshape the landscape. Through each death, a new life was not far behind to take its place. This was the scary balance of Mother Nature, nothing was ever certain or permanent and eventually all would end, fading into complete insignificance. This thought terrified you the most, it was difficult knowing that you were but a speck upon the earth and when you died you would not be remembered.

You shuddered and realised that that kind of thought process was perhaps too miserable for this time in the morning and so you shifted your mind to the more important task of locating Legolas. Before you moved you took a deep inhale of the damp air, the smell of wet earth after the rain was admittedly one of your most favourite smells of all. You were unsure why, but it seemed to have a nice calming effect upon you and when you exhaled you were almost certain you could feel waves of negativity leaving your body in floods. Being out here in nature was wonderful, as you had not explored much in your younger years, everything new you came across was as exciting as a toddler taking its first steps.

Fortunately for you, Legolas had not strayed far from the cave that you had called home last night, in fact he had only wondered off a few meters into the now slightly dense tree lining. It seemed as though he too was surveying the damage inflicted upon the woodland by the previous night's storm and he appeared to be very deep in thought. As you approached him, you became aware that he had not yet realised that you were coming towards him, as when a twig snapped beneath your feet, his whole body turned around in alarm. His bow and arrow was pointed directly at your head before you even had a second to realise what was going on.  
Your heart jumped into your throat as you considered the worst possible outcome of the situation, but luckily for you Legolas immediately realised who it was and lowered his weapon quickly. In the future you noted that you should never made an attempt to sneak up on Legolas, or even try to scare him as it may not end well for you. It had amazed you at how fast his reflexes had been, no doubt that was a skill he had learned over many years of combat training. If you had the life span that an elf was fortunate enough to have, then you came to the conclusion that you could most likely learn that skill set to, but your human life might now allow such mastery.  
Legolas chuckled as he had seen you flinch and you were very tempted to give him a playful punch in the arm for terrifying you, but you refrained from doing so. He then gestured for you to follow him to a small, lush green clearing not far from where you had been standing and instructed you to take a seat upon the soft blades of grass. As you did so, Legolas produced a small brown bag from his side and rummaged around inside it. Seconds later he withdrew his hand and out with it he pulled two very large apples, they were most definitely the darkest red apples you had ever laid your eyes upon. The skin of each one glistened beautifully in the sun, as though the skin itself had small crystals embedded within it. The red skin was as dark as blood, but it appeared to be almost multi tonal, with flecks of scarlet and lighter patches of burgundy. The fact that you had not eaten a thing since your departure from Mirkwood probably aided in making this piece of fruit seem almost other worldly.  
Legolas threw one over to you and you caught it mid air, you had almost missed which could have caused you some embarrassment, but thankfully your coordination did not let you down this time. The taste of the magnificent fruit did not fall short of your expectations; you had not experienced such fresh tasting food when you were still living in Lake Town. Yes, the Elven folk did trade fresh fruits and vegetables in the town, but it only fell into the possession of those who could afford it. You would watch as these people would ravish the goods and you always felt that the world had been unkind to you, as each night your super would consist of a bland, almost colourless soup, accompanied by stale bread that the baker could no longer sell at the market.  
A smile broke out across your lips as the sweet flesh swirled around your tongue and Legolas looked at you with almost slight bewilderment. Your face must have been a funny sight to behold indeed.  
“It is but an apple (F/N), why does it seem as though you find it euphoric?” He said, trying to contain his laughter.  
You finished the bite before replying,” It is not often that I get to eat such fine foods.”  
“You must have spent your life drinking dish water if this is your idea of fine foods.” He almost seemed to feel sorry for you. You were about to begin your rebuttal towards his last remark, but before you had the chance to do so, Legolas’ eyes suddenly grew wide and he quickly put his index finger up to his lips.

“Wha......” You tried to say, but before you could finish the word, Legolas was in front of you and he forced his hand over your mouth, he then whispered a desperate “shhhhhh” before releasing you . He signaled for you to draw your weapon and pointed towards a rather dense patch of shrubs and trees. Moments passed and you heard nothing, not a bird chirp or even the wind blow and you almost thought for a second that you might be in the clear, that there was no danger at all. Then you saw the leaves in front of you begin to quiver from some kind of disturbance, it seemed like it could have been a medium sized animal at first, but then it became clear that a much larger force was at work here. An almost feral shriek caused you to almost jump out of your skin and nearly lose your footing entirely, you had absolutely no idea what kind of creature could have made such a sound. It was not a noise you had heard any animal make before and you glanced over in Legolas’ direction for some kind of assurance. He though, had his eyes fixed straight ahead, as though he knew what was coming, a look of dread in his eyes told of an enemy he had encountered many times before. Terrors gripped every muscle and bone in your body, pulling you until you almost felt paralysed with fear, whatever was storming through those trees in your direction was something you were quite certain you were in no way prepared for. Legolas could tell at this point that running was not an option, there was a force coming this way that was at least thirty strong or more, both of you were trapped and the only way he could think of getting out of this mess was by fighting. If Legolas had been by himself, then he could have out run them, but he was an agile elf, you on the other hand were just human and he knew that you would not make it far on foot before they caught you.

“LEGOLAS, WHAT IS IT? TELL ME!” You cried out in desperation, your nerves were completely shot and the anticipation of what was to come was killing you.

  
Legolas locked eyes with you, if he was afraid; he was certainly not showing it as he simply stated, “ORCS, AT LEAST THIRTY STRONG.”

You felt a lump quickly growing in your throat, you had heard stories of Orcs before, many times, but you had never seen one in real life and it never dawned on you that you might one day face them. The combat training you had received seemed as pointless now as not knowing anything at all; you had no hope that you could hold your own against even one of them, let alone such a large group. To even think that you could fight them off would just be foolish optimism on your part, being realistic now was the best thing that you could do and you knew you had to try to fight. The first creature tore out of the greenery and it was standing at an impressive six feet at least; it was clad in armour that was almost like leather in appearance. The thing had skin that looked as though it was in the early stages of decomposition and its eyes were black, beady like that of a shark. You could not describe its eyes as being dark as a pit as that would insinuate that there was some kind of depth to them, which there was not. They were void of everything other than a strange hunger that chilled you down to your very core and as it locked its eyes with yours, you could see a grin spread across its misshapen features. Black tendrils of a gooey blood like substance pooled around and out of its mouth as it protruded its grey fleshy tongue over its pointed razor teeth. It could not have been clearer what that vile beast wanted from you as it gazed over your goose bumped flesh like it was some kind of delicacy. It wanted to consume you.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt bad for not finishing an update for so long, so I made sure I had a follow up chapter written quickly! Thank you all again for the support, you are amazing! :)

The onslaught of horrific faces did not end there, as more and more of them blundered out of the trees and into the small clearing with as much grace as a mountain troll. Each one of their beady eyes surveyed both you and Legolas as nothing more than flesh. The only aspect of this which seemed to have given both you and Legolas a lucky break was the fact that each one of them was on foot, but that was the only assistance that the universe seemed willing to give you.

Each revolting creature varied in shapes and sizes, each one as nightmarish as the last, some with long pointed noses and some others with horrific scars adorning their bodies, this was more proof that these things were war machines that had been through battle and lived to see the other side of it.

Raising your blade like Eleros had taught you, you prepared for the fight as the first horde was now only a few feet away. They had now picked up the pace, shrieking and making guttural noises in anticipation of the kill. They reminded you a little of a pack of wolves, but their lack of cooperation skills with each other seemed to make you think otherwise. As they got closer, they fought amongst themselves, pushing and shoving to get to the front of the group, but then it began to turn nasty. The first Orc that had entered the clearing had had its eyes set on you from the moment it got there, you were going to be its prize and nothing would get in the way of that. It pulled out a long, jagged blade that appeared to be caked in rust, but on closer inspection you came to the conclusion that it was in fact dried blood. It drove the almost homemade looking weapon straight into the back of a taller Orcs head that had managed to overtake it in the race towards you. A spray of thick blood, as black as oil sprayed out of the wound, creating around it an almost mist like shower. The impaled beast let out a pained shriek before falling heavily to the ground.  
The Orcs surrounding it, did not seem to be at all concerned that it had just killed one of its own, in fact they all proceeded to do the same if another decided to get in their way of a meal. A small part of you hoped that they would just finish each other off, but unfortunately this was not the case and soon you found yourself taking the first swing with your sword.

The beast you were facing was far taller than you and it seemed extremely muscular in stature, you were certain that if this thing were to fall on you, you would surely have a punctured lung. It loomed over you and had gotten so close that you could smell a cloud of its putrid scent surrounding you, a smell which made you think only of death. It almost made you gag in disgust, but you forced the urge to vomit back the best that you could manage.

You decided to make your move, lunging forward with all the strength that you could muster and aimed the blade for an exposed part of its stomach, but the creature anticipated this move and was fast to block your sharp blade. The force of its blade pushing against yours was enough to throw you a few feet backwards, but amazingly you managed to stay on your feet.

The brute was quick to make its counter attack. It raced towards you with tremendous speed and aimed the blade towards your chest; you managed to intercept the steel and the two blades scraped together making an ear curdling screech. As you continued to push the sword back, the side at the end of its blade caught the skin on your shoulder and sliced through it keenly. You hissed at the pain, but you did not allow your attention to rest on it for too long. Adrenaline coursed through your veins, the fear you had felt was now gone and had somehow been replaced with pure determination, you were not going to allow this thing to beat you.

The creature swung its weapon and it missed your face by mere inches, but you had expected this. While the thing was mid swing, you used your smaller height to your advantage and swooped down to its abdomen level and immersed your sword through its stomach, pushing with all your force until only the handle of your weapon was exposed. The sound of tearing flesh was not something you felt you could over get used to and you were glad of it, the only joy you could take from this moment was that your were alive for now.

It took the thing a few seconds to realise what had happened, but once it had its mouth fell agape with shock and it began to stumble backwards, vile blood oozing and seeping from the wound. You could not believe it, you had won the fight, but you knew that you should not be celebrating so soon, there were many more of them to come.

Legolas was only a few meters from you and you could see that he was using his bow and arrow to thin the crowd and it was astonishing how accurate he was. Arrows were sent whizzing through the air at lightning speeds and they never failed to hit their target every single time. Orcs fell like flies, arrows penetrated deep into their skulls and destroying whatever brain matter it was that they possessed. Still though, no matter how many he killed, more continued to filter through into the clearing and he could not prevent them all from reaching you.

You rushed over to the fallen Orc, you tugged at your sword which had been lodged extremely deep into its stomach and as it began to release, a fountain of blood spurted out of the wound and soaked your already filthy clothes. You screwed your nose up in disgust, but continued to pull out the sword as fast as you could. Once the blade was free, you poured your concentration into disposing of your next victim, the Orc from the beginning.

It staggered towards you with excitement brimming on its face and it sneered, “ I might keep you alive and let you writhe in pain as I tear the flesh from your bones.”  
“You will not get that chance, beast.” You retorted with rage spitting out of every word that left your tongue.

It did not wait a second longer to begin its attack, it lurched forward, its throat narrowly missing a visit from the edge of your blade. The creature decided to use its superior weight to its advantage, this creature seemed to be slightly smarter than the other in assessing your weaknesses. It pounced on you, which threw you heavily to the ground, your head smacking the wet grass with such force that you started to hear a high pitched ringing in your ears. Within seconds it was on you, its ropy arms holding yours by your side so that you were unable to move more than a few inches. It’s revolting face hovered centimeters above yours and it laughed manically as it decided to drag its rough, rancid tongue slowly across your cheek. You struggled with all your force beneath it, trying desperately to make the beast lose its balance, but to not avail. It seemed as though the creature had managed to knock out all of the air from within your lungs from the impact of its body weight on top of you. You coughed and spluttered desperately trying to get a breath, but you could only get shallow ones.

That’s when it noticed the warm, scarlet blood dripping from the cut in your arm and it yowled with excitement and within seconds it was lapping up the blood in frenzy. The torment did not end there though, as once the blood flow slowed, it decided to take things a step further and it tore at the opening of the cut with its pointed teeth. You screamed in pain as a white flash of light clouded your mind, this was by far one of the most agonising things you had ever experienced. You wondered why the hell Legolas had not intervened by this point, you were almost certain that with his skills, he would be able to get a good shot at the thing that was currently tearing at your arm.

Then you became aware of the sound of hooves crashing into the open space, which gave you a distraction from the vomit inducing sound of the Orc trying to anchor off a piece of your flesh with its teeth. The Orc above you did not seem interested at all in the new arrivals; instead it concentrated on the task at hand, so you figured that perhaps it was more of them, but this time on horseback.

You looked past the shoulder of the creature and up to the sky with blurry vision and that is when you saw a magnificent flash of silver and you heard the sharp slice of a blade. You then noticed that the Orc had stopped trying to devour the flesh from your arm and his facial expression was frozen. Next thing you knew, its head came clean of its shoulders and landed next to you with an enormous thud. A pale white hand reached down to you and pulled at the body of the creature that lay almost lifeless on top of you, apart from the occasional sinister twitch from its arms. Once you were free of the putrid body, you sucked in a deep breath as now your lungs were no longer being crushed and you decided against your best judgement to take a look at your injured arm.

Puncture marks covered from your elbow all the way up to your shoulder, it was hard to tell how many there were because of the amount of blood that covered your arm. Small bits of flesh hung from the wound as though it had been shredded, it was utterly revolting.

Two hands then grasped your wrists firmly and pulled you onto your feet and that is when you finally decided to look up.

You were caught by utter surprise when you saw that it was the King who had helped you to your feet and you were not sure whether to be happy or concerned by his presence. For a moment you thought that perhaps he had changed his mind about freeing you from Mirkwood and he had sought you out in order to bring you back there.

The Kings face seemed to be full of genuine concern for your well being as he quickly gazed over the carnage left in the wake of the Orc attack. It was clear to you that he was not going to let you continue to help in disposing of the monsters, you were certain that he viewed you as a helpless and lost fawn that needed protection.

“MOVE HER TO SAFETY, SHE IS INJURED.” The king instructed a nearby guard.

You shrugged yourself out of the King’s grip, “Leave me, I am not a fragile flower, I wish to stay and fight.”

There was still around a dozen Orcs wreaking havoc and the fact that there were now six Elves included in the fight did not appear to faze them at all. Fear was an emotion they did not posses, which was something you almost envied them for, they had no emotions, they were driven only by their lust for blood.  
Legolas appeared by your side suddenly and gave his father an angry glance, before following you closer to the fight.  
“Are you certain that you are able to fight (F/N)? You have nothing to prove.” Legolas also seemed concerned by your injuries, but unlike his father he could see the raw strength and determination within you.

“No one else here would be respected if they ran from this, so why should I be the exception?” You stated bluntly, you just wanted to get this over with as you were beginning to feel light headed from the blood loss. Fighting was definitely not a good idea, but you were not going to allow the King to continue to view you as a weak being because that was not who you were anymore.

The battle ended within a short thirty minute period, but for those in the midst of it, it felt much longer. Fortunately your side had one, there were no Elven casualties and with the exception of you, just minor injuries. You had not killed anymore Orcs, but you fought them back the best you could, while Legolas remained a few paces behind you and shot them with arrows. The sense of pride you felt was almost over whelming, if anyone you had known from Lake Town could have seen you in that moment they would not have recognised you. You were not sure if your parents would have been proud of you, as this was certainly not behaviour they would have condoned, but a part of you hoped that you have proved yourself to them in some way.

The clean grass covered in rain water only this morning was now strewn with dismembered limbs, heads and pools of blood. You made your way towards where the Elves were now gathering with their horses, carefully avoiding the corpses as you went and you noticed that the King was gazing straight at you.  
You wanted to avoid eye contact, but it was too late as the King gestured for you to come to where he was standing, a few feet away from the rest of his men. You reluctantly complied, it scared you to think of what he could possibly want, but at least this time you had Legolas whom you hoped would help you if the King tried to harm you.

The King did not look as though he had just been battling with Orcs at all, unlike the rest of his men, he did not have one fleck of blood on his armour at all, it amazed you that his appearance managed to stay so flawless throughout the whole fight.

“Fighting whilst injured was a very admirable act (F/N).”

“I did no more than what would have been expected of anyone else.” You responded.

“I under estimated your strength, that was wrong of me to do so.” The King seemed almost meek when he confessed this to you. You almost did not believe your ears, the King appeared to be trying to offer you some form of an apology.

“Now we must tend to your wounds, I do not want to think of the diseases that Orc filth was carrying.” The hatred his words were carrying was very clear; you were unsure whether his anger was just general hatred for the Orc race, or the fact that the Orc had attacked you.  
“Please sit (F/N), while I collect medicine” He gestured with a flick of his elegant hand to the patch of grass and you did so gladly, your vision was beginning to go blurry again and you could feel yourself becoming nauseous.

The metallic smell of your blood was in itself sickening, the sharp tang was trapped in your nostrils and you could not shift it. The pain though was incomparable to anything you had experienced, but you did your best to ignore it, you instead put all of your concentration into remaining conscious.  
The King returned shortly after, with a small red pot of a viscous green liquid and to your surprise, he knelt next to you and proceeded to put a small amount of it upon his index finger.

“My King, that is not necessary, I am able to do that myself.”

He seemed offended by your statement, “Does my touch repulse you so much that you would not be willing to receive my assistance?

You shook your head feebly, unable by this point to do much else before your head began to spin, “No, please proceed.”

The medicine had a cooling effect upon your skin, which felt so much better than the burning sensation that had taken over from the Orc bite, but it did sting slightly which caused you to flinch. The King’s touch was gentle, much more so than you had expected as he carefully rubbed the liquid into and around the puncture wound. It amazed you that he had not had one of his guards take on this mundane task, he was after all a King, not a healer, this job was beneath him, yet he decided to do it anyway.

Almost instantly, you began to feel the excruciating agony fade into a light, dull pain which was far more bearable. You no longer felt the need to fight to stay conscious, as the blood flow from the wounds had stopped completely. Elven medicine amazed you, you were not sure how it worked, but you were thankful that it did.

“The wounds will close in time, but I’m certain that some scars will remain, that is but the price of battle.” The King spoke softly, this kindness was not something you had witnessed from him before and you were not sure how to respond to it. You had spent so much time hating him and you still would until your brother was found, but it was difficult to be angry when he was showing you such kindness.

“Thank you.” You managed a half smile in his direction and this seemed to please him, you knew that he was aware that it was hard for you to show him that you were grateful because of your animosity towards him.

“I do hope that one day your disdain for me will fade (F/N).” He said tenderly, before getting to his feet and helping you onto yours.  
“There is only one way that would be possible, if we find my brother alive and well.” You responded.

“I am most certain that I will.” The Kind replied with confidence, before turning and walking back  
towards his men.

It had completely slipped your mind to ask him the King why he was here; it seemed to be too much of a coincidence that he would show up just when you and Legolas had started to get into trouble with the Orcs. If his intentions were to take you back to Mirkwood, then surely he would not have shown you such graciousness only moments ago, but if it was not that, then what could possibly be his reasoning for being here?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, I know, I'm a terrible person. I haven't updated in several months and for that I am truly sorry. I could make up all manner of excuses, but I won't, I just had total writers block with this story and had lost the direction I had thought I was going with it, but I've come back with a fresh take on it now and I know exactly where it is heading!
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone for all the support for this fic, for the comments and of course the kudos, you guys are amazing :) 
> 
> (F/N) -first name
> 
> (H/C)-hair colour
> 
> (H/l) -hair length   
>  
> 
> * If there are any mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know. I wrote this late at night and half asleep so I will probably have overlooked a few things *

The King and his men had set up a small, makeshift camp in the dense woodland not far from the clearing where the Orc attack had occurred only a few hours before. This had worried you at first, if there were splinter groups of the same Orc pack, then perhaps they would go looking for their fallen comrades and it would not take much searching to find the Elven group responsible for their demise camping not far from their corpses. Though your mind was put at ease slightly when Legolas informed you that no such search party would be coming, that an Orcs loyalty was not like that of men and Elves. A fallen Orc was replaceable and no doubt the small group you had encountered had been one of the many that had fallen behind after the battle, enjoying their freedom to murder and pillage as they saw fit. The crudely constructed collection of tents rested a few meters away from a large lake, it's waters were dark and you were most certain that it would be insufferably bitter and cold within it's depths. The last rays of sunlight from the day washed over the water, highlighting the gentle waves and causing the otherwise bleak body of water to glisten favourably. Perhaps, you think, tomorrow you might have time to clean yourself and your clothes within in it, early enough in the morning to avoid any prying eyes.

The horror's of the day still stayed with you, like a heavy weight resting upon your already weakened chest, flashes of the destruction that had been left behind in that blood filled clearing would not leave your mind. You glanced down at your wound, it was no longer giving you any discomfort and remarkably it had already healed considerably, you counted yourself lucky that it was no worse,that you had walked away from the fight with your life and all of your limbs still intact. Each time you closed your eyes though, even for as short as a second, you could see the unrelenting eyes of an Orc glaring at you hungrily, limbs and entrails steaming against the cold morning air. The once pure, green grass, now tainted with puddles of blackened blood, the innocence of the forest now violated by death and agonising shrieks. Of creatures drawing their last breaths, holding on desperately to a life that only hours before was still filled with all possibility. You knew that this was how it had to be, you had no choice, the Orc pack would have killed you without a moments hesitation, but you could still not shake that feeling of guilt and disgust that this was who you had been forced to become.  
Each day that passed, since your brother had left, you became more distant from your true self, darkness was replacing the once warm feeling you had had in your soul, it terrified you to think of what you might become if you did not find him soon.

The sun had begun to set upon the forest and with it came a deathly night frost, settling into the grass and your very bones, so you had thought it best that you start to make your own bed for the night. The King had offered that you sleep in his spacious tent, a proposition which you had swiftly declined without a moments hesitation, much to his disappointment. As warm and inviting as it did look, you would not set aside your pride for a comfortable nights sleep, no matter how much you needed it.  
His dismay was only furthered when you decided to instead set up a small blanket by the fire next to Legolas, the only person in the camp that you remotely trusted at that time. The two of you isolated yourselves the best that you could from the rest of the camp, both of you had your reasons for doing so, although you were unsure as to Legolas' motives for such a move, you were very much aware of your own. You had no interest in becoming too acquainted with those who had imprisoned you. It was clear to you that you may not have survived the Orc encounter if it had not been for the King and his men helping you both at the last minute and although others may have felt indebted to them, you certainly did not.  
If it had not been for the King and his impulsive, irrational behaviour, then perhaps you would not have been in this situation in the first place, you would not have countless sleepless nights filled with worry and regret.  
For the needless pain he had caused you to suffer, you would not thank him so readily for force feeding you scraps of kindness, perhaps others would view this as ungrateful, a vendetta that may cause you more harm than good in the long run, but for now until the piece of your heart that was stolen from you was recovered, you would hear nothing of it.

The uneven earth beneath you was unpleasantly damp, soaking through the thin blanket that separated you from the moss covered soil and it clung to your skin, bringing with it an uncomfortable chill that you had to endure. The heat from the fire was not enough to keep your body temperature at a preferable point, if you moved too close to it, your face became unbearably warm, but then only moving slightly from the flames was enough for the cold to continue to hold you in it's unbearable grasp once more. There was no good in between, although you were unsure as to what exactly you had been expecting, sleeping rough was never likely to be at all comfortable. 

You lay on your back and gazed up towards the darkened sky, the night was beautifully crisp and clear, the mystical light from thousands of stars burned brightly, causing the sky to be ignited in a magnificent luminescence. Beauty such as this was never lost on you, even when it seemed as though the ground beneath you was falling away, you still managed to see the bewitching grace of all around you, this perhaps was one of the things that managed to keep your grasp on your sanity.  
You sighed lowly, enough so that the sleeping Elf beside you would not be awakened, shifting your groaning muscles into a more agreeable position in the hope that soon you would drift off into a restful sleep, in preparation for whatever else would be thrown at you the next morning. You glanced over at the King's tent and noticed the warm, orange glow from the oil lamp inside illuminated the white fabric chamber so that a dark, shadow outline of the man himself could clearly be visible. It felt almost inappropriate to look, but curiosity and a mixture of boredom would not allow you to take your eyes away from the tall, lithe figure that prowled behind the fabric of the tent, possessing the effortless grace of and power of a big cat. The man exuded royalty, even when it seemed as though no one was watching, it was quite baffling to you, his posture never faltered,his strong stature and presence did not weaken. It saddened you that a man such as he, in a great position of power, who held the loyalties of many, had managed to stray from the path of light and instead began to wander down a more selfish route. No doubt you were not the first to fall victim to his ever changing temperament, his own son, it seemed, could hardly stand to remain in such close proximity to him, it made you wonder what had happened to the King that had made him lose his way and his grip of morality. 

Through all of this though, he seemed almost desperate to be redeemed, as if he himself knew that perhaps this time he had pushed too far and that it was time to begin to make amends, to right the wrongs he had inflicted and once again make it right with the universe. You hoped that this was his reasoning behind assisting you today and for seemingly helping in the search for your brother and not a skillful ruse to try and trick you into becoming his concubine. You almost chuckle to yourself at the thought of it all being some elaborate ploy to seduce you, it was a very unlikely scenario.Yes, the King had not proven himself to you as anything more than a selfish man, but even that seemed a bit far fetched for him. 

Just as you were about to bring yourself to look away from the shadow, you noticed the King was beginning to disrobe, his long, elegant fingers quickly undid the few buttons on his long, silver tunic he had been wearing that day, before carefully discarding the item on the floor. Heat rose up through your body and swiftly you were aware of the bright blush that had arisen in your cheeks, you were unsure if this was from shame or if perhaps it was something else. Your eyes dropped down to the floor for a moment, examining the ground in embarrassment, no one knew that you were watching him, but you still felt a great sense that what you were doing was wrong on a number of levels. Were you really watching him undress? This was a man that you despised, why on earth was it that he still managed to be so attractive to you? Since the first time you had laid eyes upon him, after you fled the burning remnants of Lake-Town, you had found his beauty to be almost other worldly, but that was before you had known him. Surely those thoughts and feelings should have been stamped out completely by now, but apparently that was not the case. You could not be entirely to blame for the attraction though, the Elven race were known to be comprised of some of the most exquisite beauties existing in Middle earth, but from what you had seen of this man, his beauty was only skin deep which was something you had to remember. Without realising it, your eyes had found him again, just in time to see the outline of his bare torso and him pulling at his trousers, ready to remove them and allow them to join the rest of his garments on the floor. You could hardly see anything, but the guilt washed over you almost instantly, what you were doing was highly inappropriate, to spy on the King in his state of undress was hardly a befitting thing to do. Continuing to watch him without his knowledge, invading his privacy on such an intimate level was not something you could bring yourself to prolong any further. 

You decided that you needed to go for a walk, anything to distract your mind from what had just happened, not that much had actually happened, why was it then that you felt so much guilt? It had to be the misplaced feelings of lust that you seemed to have for the King, feelings that you just had to push down into your deepest depths and ignore. It was shameful to you that after everything he had done and put you through, you still felt some kind of connection and an uncomfortable pull towards the man. It was stupid, ridiculous and downright reckless, you knew this within yourself, but your body seemed to respond to him in a way which no other had ever achieved or could hope to achieve in the future. Nothing about the situation you found yourself in was normal, you had been put through so much over the last few days, the conflicting mixture of feelings that coursed through your mind was nothing short of chaotic. 

You silently moved through the campsite in the opposite direction of the Kings tent, pushing past small twigs and branches that got in your path, carefully treading on the crunchy, dried leaves that littered the ground beneath your feet. Within moments, you had broken free from the dark, looming trees above and stepped out onto the shore of the vast lake, you were unsure as to why you had come here, but you were glad that you had.  
Pale moonlight cascaded it's beams across the water, causing a dazzling contrast between the blackness of the lake and the glittering of the waves that delicately lapped the pebble strewn shore. In the distance, you could make out the opposite embankment across the lake, darkened silhouettes of trees littered the shoreline, much more dense than on your own side of the lake. The silver-hued moon sat lowly in the sky, you had never witnessed it so close before, it felt as though if you were to go out far enough, extend your arms and really try, you might actually be able to run your hand over it's cratered surface.

It's mystical light filled you with an energy you could not explain, as though the moon itself was giving you the strength that you needed to continue on in your venture. You could no longer feel the stinging bite of the cold night air as you removed your shoes and delicately dipped a toe into the mesmerising water, surprisingly it did not seem particularly cool, you had expected that your toes would freeze the instant that they touched the water, but no, it was not unpleasant at all.  
It was so beautiful out there, you did not want to return to camp anytime soon, it was not as though a restful night's sleep was going to be granted to you, so you decided to indulge yourself for a moment. You were quite certain that you would not be missed while you were out here, each Elf was exhausted from the fight that day and had settled down for an evening of much needed rest, so no one would come looking for you any time soon.  
Quickly , you looked around, back in the direction of the campsite to make sure that no one was near by, when after a moment it seemed as though the coast was clear, you removed your dirty, blood spattered clothing and tossed the garments onto the stones below, far enough away from the water so that they would not get wet. As much as you wanted to wash them, you had a feeling that they would not dry in time and you had no intention of walking around tomorrow in damp clothing , as you would surely catch your death and becoming ill was certainly something you needed to avoid for the time being.

You waded into the water slowly, your feet skillfully navigating their way across the stones on the lake floor, most of which were thankfully smooth, but occasionally a jagged one would catch you by surprise and jab into the soft skin of your feet, causing you to tread even more delicately than you had been before .  
Before you knew it, you were up to your waist in the clear, clean water, you allowed the cleansing liquid to wash over you, helping to rid yourself of the negative events of the day, clearing your mind of the shameful revelation you had just admitted to yourself regarding the much hated King. This was exactly what you had needed, for a few moments, while you were suspended in the deep water, you mind became clear and almost relaxed.  
You lay back,flat on the water with your eyes closed, allowing the current to gently take hold of your seemingly weightless form, letting it rock you lightly back and forth as though you were one with it. Moments like this were so few and spare now, so you made the most of it while you could, committing it to memory so that when you needed some light in your life, it was never too far away.

It could have been mere minutes or possibly hours that you had been drifting in the water, any concept of time had evaded you completely, but it was not nearly long enough before you were brought heavily back to reality when you heard the soft sound of the water breaking behind you, as something moved towards you. Startled, you flipped around in the water so that your were once again upright and with wide eyes, like that of a frightened deer, you scanned the surface of the lake, watching the ripples in the water as the object got closer to you. You had no time to prepare yourself for any kind of attack, you didn't have much of an idea of what exactly you could have done to defend yourself at that point, you were not a strong swimmer and hand to hand combat in water was not something you had ever had to do before. No doubt it would be beyond your abilities and any effort to fight back would be futile on your part, the weight of your current vulnerability crashed down on you like the inescapable weight of a thousand rocks. Your breathing became shallow and rapid, the speed of your heart increased until it felt as though it may just try and propel itself out of your chest, your limbs felt heavy as you waited for what could have potentially been any manner of creature. 

The first thing you saw break the waters eerily still surface, was the glimmering shine of long, silvery, white hair and that's when your heart beat seemed to stop completely. At that point you almost wished to yourself that it had been some kind of vicious creature from the depths of the lake, at least you would have been aware of it's intentions instantly. King Thranduil had once again managed to find himself in your company without your prior knowledge or consent and his sudden appearances wherever you went were starting to wear thin. You cursed under your breath, he was exactly what you had come here to forget about, but it seemed as though your problems could not leave you alone for any reasonable length of time. Somehow you had a feeling that this meeting was not a mere accident and that the King must have seen you head towards the lake and decided in his infinite wisdom that perhaps you would be wanting his company. Which of course was a most ridiculous notion that only a madman or someone with a high level of arrogance or a massive ego would deem an appropriate course of action to take. The King had been made very much aware of your disdain for him, yet he still insisted on forcing his presence upon you at every chance he could get. When was he going to allow you to be free of him?

Once he had emerged from the water as much as he could, you noticed to your horror that he was wearing nothing on the top half of his body and that made you question as to whether or not he was in fact entirely unclothed. He ran his long fingers through his hair, pushing back the long, dripping and defiant strands that found their way to his face. Your eyes quickly found their way to his pale and surprisingly muscular torso and broad shoulders, drinking in every detail much to your horror and dismay, you seemed almost powerless to stop it. While you were busy appraising him, he used the distraction to his advantage, moving closer towards you in the water until he was no more than a foot away from you.Your all too interested gaze no doubt revealed to him your true appreciation of his pleasing form, the shock of him standing before you prevented you from disguising it, but once you had managed to regain control of your wandering mind, you tried to mask your unwanted interest with your most powerful asset, your anger. 

"My King! This is not appropriate!" You stammer, suddenly remembering your naked state, your hands moving as fast as lightening to shield your bare breasts from his curious view.

His stoic expression quickly changed to that of amusement, as he raised one eyebrow and smiled down at you with an almost predatory grin that caused a shiver to travel down your spine, the light of the moon glinted off of his white teeth menacingly. You had forgotten just how terrifying he could be as he towered over you, his imposing body only inches from your own, blocking your way back to the shore.  
The king decided to plead ignorance to the improper situation that had started to unfurl , though you knew full well that he was aware that you were naked and were at the mercy of the water to conceal your dignity, " Oh? And why would that be (F/N)?"

You wanted to slap him so hard to wipe off the smug expression that was plastered all over his face! How dare he act dumb to your plight, he surely must have known that he was not welcome in your presence on most occasions and he was most certainly not welcome in your company while you were naked! Surely even he could see just how uncomfortable he made you, but it seemed as though his arrogance had once again prevailed and outshone all logical thinking, discarding it to the side in favour of more cocky, inappropriate behaviour.

" This unseemly behaviour is surprising, even when coming from a loathsome creature like yourself." You hiss at him, your harsh wording shocking even you as it left your tongue. You were unsure as to whether most of this rage was stemming from the fact that the King was invading your privacy or because you hated yourself for enjoying his appearance so much and you were actually far more enraged at yourself for doing so. Something told you that it was most likely the latter and not so much the former.

Your response did not seem to faze him though, in fact the insult barely appears to register with him at all, the same complacent smirk continued to play upon his features as though he was starting to enjoy your sharp tongue and feisty behaviour towards him. No doubt that would only last so long as you did not push him too far, but that was not something you concerned yourself with at that moment, you were too angry to think of the consequences to any of your potential actions.

" You may have yourself fooled (F/N) , but you do not fool me. Your eyes have betrayed you." He shoots a knowing glance in your direction, his grin only widening when he notices the realisation dawning upon you heavily that he had indeed noticed you staring at him.

This had not been all that surprising to you that he had noticed you staring, but you had not expected him to bring it up so quickly, you felt him slowly trying to disarm you with his words and charm and that was not something you could allow, You had to try and regain some kind of control in the situation. "Do not take my momentary lapse as a sign that my revulsion toward you has in anyway weakened my King. Perhaps your exterior reflects that of beauty, but what lurks inside of you is foul and rotten." You make sure to look him deep in his icy blue eyes when you say this, concentrating hard on your anger so that your own gaze holds strong and does not waver. Again, you knew that perhaps you had been too harsh with him, but you could not allow him to walk away from this thinking that he had some kind of hold over you, it would just not do.  
Your last retort appeared to have the desired effect as his arrogant smile soon faded and was replaced by an unreadable expression, he reached out to you with one hand, you tried to move backward in the water, but his other arm snaked around your waist and drew you close to him once more. So close in fact that his most definite naked form pressed tightly against your own, you tried to protest, but he gave you an unmistakable warning look that made you freeze there. He reached out again with his free hand and gently stoked your shivering jawline with one of his cold fingers, before harshly grasping your chin and forcing you to look upwards into his fearsome gaze. The grip was hard and almost painful, you struggled against his vice like grip, but his eyes once again contained a silent warning that informed you that you had better stay still unless you wished to be on the receiving end of one of his infamous tempers. 

" You are such an alluring creature...." His voice purrs softly, filling you with dread. ".....your fear for me fades slightly more with each time our paths cross. You are so delicate,.... weak, ..like a child moving around in a unknown world.......... I have been patient with you, but you forget that I can just take from you what I want if I so choose to. ....Do not continue to test me, my patience is wearing thin, little one." He growled lowly into your ear. 

The warmth of his breath ghosted across your neck with each harrowing word that crossed his daunting lips. The full connotations of his message quickly sunk in, he was correct, you had become much less fearful of the man because he had started to be so lenient with you, letting you speak to him in a way that would have others spend the rest of their lives behind a prison door. This leniency had made you become almost unnerved by him, you had forgotten just how cruel and dangerous this man had the potential to be, but you had been quickly reminded now that the King had the power to destroy your life completely if you did not behave in the manner he saw fit. 

It seemed as though an eternity had come and gone in the moments after the King had made his displeasure known to you, the earth could have burned around you and you would not have known, you both held each others gaze without any sign of it being broken. Your eyes hid nothing of your feelings, you were petrified, furious and desperately trying to regain control and his were full of victory, knowing that he once more had instilled fear within you and that you were more pliable under his will now.

The King was the first to break the emotionally charged stare down, by doing something you had in no way expected, which was why you didn't find yourself entirely to blame for your instinctive reaction. He pulled your lips up to meet his own, entangling his fingers into your (H/L) (H/C) so that you could not escape his grasp, harshly trying to pull you into an impassioned kiss.He crushed your delicate mouth with his soft lips, you could feel the fury and desperate lust that burned behind it as his tongue tried to gain entrance into your unwilling mouth.The crippling shock took a hold of your body and for a few seconds you were unable to react to the kiss at all, it was as though it was some kind of nightmare you were witnessing from a distance, as though it was not really happening to you.

When you reconnected with your body though, you did the first thing that came to your head, you opened your mouth slightly and took his plump bottom lip hurriedly between your teeth, before biting down upon the delicate flesh as hard as you physically could so that he would release you from his grasp. The plan had worked, the King let out an angered yell, his eyes widened as he glared down at you furiously,his hand moving to his mouth to wipe at the warm pool of crimson droplets that had started to rain down from his lip.

You spared no time in ducking past the enraged man, moving as fast as you could through the water towards the shore, taking no time to look back at him as you knew there was no point in that. What you had done to him was likely nothing compared to the revenge he would want to exact on you for your latest act of defiance and you had no idea what you were going to do or where you were going to go once you made it back to shore. It was not as if you were going to be safe from him there either, but at least you had more of a chance of escaping his petrifying wrath on dry land.

It had very much been your intention to heed his warning to you, but what had transpired only moments ago was very much a result of his own doing and a result he truly should have expected. You were not a violent person, but he left you no choice, you were not sure that he would have taken things further than the kiss, you thought that even he would have more honour than that, but you could not be entirely sure and there was no way you were going to risk it. It stunned you that he had yet again managed to go from someone who had been trying to help you by fixing his mistakes, to someone that let his hurt pride fuel an unrelenting rage, burning down any bridges that had been on the way to being mended in an instant, his changeable moods were nothing short of terrifying. 

Whatever was to become of you now, you would keep dignity in knowing you acted only out of self defense and not out of malice and hatred for the King, whether or not he or anyone else would believe you was another question, but one that would get answered shortly when you finally made it back to camp.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter is okay, I've been ill all week with the flu, so I've been pretty out of it on flu medicine while writing this, so I'm not sure how good it will be haha :)  
> As always, thank you for reading, the kudos and for all of the wonderful comments!

Your body felt slow and heavy as you forced it forward and tried to move rapidly through the cool water, you cursed under your breath that your own body was failing you in the moment you needed it to perform the most.  
It should not have surprised you, it was not as though you were an avid or particularly experienced swimmer and most certainly not when you were placed under such pressure, but you thought that perhaps your adrenaline would have aided you on your mission to make it back to the shore quickly and intact. Every single one of your muscles felt dull and seemed to fight against you, your legs burned under the stress of frantically kicking to propel yourself faster through what seemed like a cruel and unending body of water.

Much to your dismay,the wind had started to pick up, making the water that surrounded you much more difficult to navigate through than it had been when the water was still. No doubt this was the aftermath of the horrific storm you had faced not long before, but you had not imagined that the weather would take such a volatile turn so suddenly. If you had even suspected for a moment that it would, you most certainly would not have ventured out into the lake. 

Waves lapped around your trembling body, at first they were gentle and so did not cause you too much concern, but as the wind grew in force, so did the waves, becoming larger and bolder, the spray of the water restricting your vision considerably. For someone who was not a great swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, this was a horrible outcome for you.

You could not recall swimming out as far as you had into the black lake, but you realised that your earlier enjoyment of the water had no doubt distracted you and had allowed you to float carelessly much further out than you had originally intended. This, under normal circumstances, would not have been an issue. Before the King had decided to appear and once again ruin your perfectly adequate evening, you had been rather enjoying the peaceful and blissful time you had been spending on the lake. So taking much longer to get back to shore would have meant getting to stay away from the Elven camp longer and which would have been ideal for you. 

However, this was not the case and of course, like most things these days, your lapse in judgement and short lived moments of enjoyment were working against you.

  
You had been frantically pushing through the water for what seemed like an eternity and as much as every instinct in your body screamed at you to look around, to see if the King was closing in on you, you fought the urge with all the strength that you still possessed, every second that you focused on him you knew was energy wrongfully spent.  
Even a millisecond of becoming distracted could have meant that he gained on you and after witnessing the enraged look upon the mans face when you had bitten him, you did not want to consider the consequences you would be facing when he caught you. Something told you that he would perhaps not be so lenient with you this time around as drawing blood from the King was most certainly not just crossing a line, but jumping over it and ignoring the line completely.

It angered you that this was the society that you were forced to live in, it would be his word against your own and of course no one would even consider taking your version of the truth over that of a King's. You had done nothing wrong, you defended yourself against what you felt was an unwarranted attack, the outcome of which could have been much more awful had you not taken drastic action. Obviously once again in this case, it was not the act itself that would be the reason behind your undoing, no, it was the connotations behind it.  
As a lowly girl from a poor town, submission to one considered above you in almost every respect of the word, was expected without exceptions. No matter how horrid the situation you may have found yourself in and no matter what was asked of you, society agreed that you had to blindly follow and voice no kind of objections. You were not considered the Kings equal on any level and rejecting his advances most would consider a ridiculous notion, but you were happy in the knowledge that you were not one who followed those absurd, unwritten rules. No man, no matter his background or social status, would take advantage of you without retaliation and that would never change.

You were certain that your recent act against the King would no doubt have dealt another punishing blow to his already fragile pride and in letting you away with yet another blatant act of defiance he would in turn make himself look weak, which you knew would not be acceptable to him.

The panic you felt was becoming unbearable, your blood pulsed through your veins and your heartbeat sounded loudly in your head until it almost drowned out the noise of the frantic splashing of the water around you. This, along with the physical exertion your body was being forced to perform under, you felt utterly drained. Your pace slowed rather rapidly, the strain becoming too much, but you did not allow yourself to stop all together. After having made it that far in your journey, after making it against all the odds and obstacles that had been thrown in your way, one more hurdle was not going to stop you. It was not something you could allow of yourself. After living through an encounter with the putrid Orc creatures of Middle Earth, you would not let yourself fail, you had come too far.

Your eyes widened in horror as you felt a sudden tightening sensation moving like a shot through your upper thigh and all the way down to your calf. The horrible sensation was met with a sharp bolt of pain soon after as the muscles in your leg contracted and pulled tightly , tearing through your limb at a frightening pace. You managed to hold back a pained cry, opting instead to bite down on the inside of your cheek, not allowing any noise to escape your lips.  
The sudden ache of the cramp made you stop swimming all together, the pain was far too excruciating to continue towards the shore, you tried your best to stretch the agonising muscle to bring yourself some kind of relief, but it did not help at all.  
You had not had leg cramp in such a long time, in fact you could not remember that's how long ago it was, so it was typical that it would strike at that point and attempt to immobilise you when every odd was already stacked against you.

The now vexed waves slammed against your weakened body and dragged you helplessly through the cold water with such ease that you felt like nothing more than a rag doll completely at the mercy of the lake. With each freezing wall of water that smacked painfully against your skin, it attempted to drag you under, pulling your head beneath the surface with an unbridled ease.  
Your hand gripped onto your leg, massaging the tightened muscle, but again, no relief seemed to come, if anything the pain worsened as the cramp had only just entered in to it's early throes with no sign of releasing you from it's grasp anytime soon.

You desperately attempted to keep your head above the water as it bobbed in and out, breaking the surface before falling under once more. At first, you managed to pull your head back above the surface after only a few seconds of it being under, but soon the intervals of being below the surface grew in length until you remained under for many grueling seconds at a time.  

The crushing weight of the water pressed down upon your exhausted body, dragging you further and deeper into the darkened , unforgiving depths of the lake.. Your eyes were wide as you watched helplessly as the light from the moon faded more and more, in it's place appeared a frightening darkness that threatened to wipe out the shimmer of the magnificent light entirely. Your arms flailed around you, your fingers extended wide as you clawed frantically at the cold liquid that surrounded you, doing everything within their power to help you make it up for a few blissful seconds to suck in a massive lungful of oxygen.

As soon as you managed to get a precious breath, another vicious wave struck your body, causing the oxygen to be torn from you, leaving you breathless as you were pulled, dragged and thrown in every direction. The pain in your leg had not subsided and only worsened when your legs thrashed around, desperately trying to keep you afloat. You spluttered and gasped for air, but it was hopeless, each time you had almost managed to draw a breath, the water claimed for it's own once again.

Under the waters surface, you became completely disorientated, your brain just could not seem to fathom which direction to go in, not even the normally simple task of deciding which way was up. The panic you felt was overwhelming, your mouth opened to gasp for the air that just wasn't there and water filled your mouth and began to infiltrate your lungs instantly.

Soon you were no longer able to make it to the surface, your body began to go limp, no longer able to fight and descended further and deeper towards the lake's floor. Oddly you had stopped panicking at that point, you felt as though you were in a dream like state, you watched calmly as the light at the surface got darker and darker. Your life did not flash before your eyes like you had heard can happen to those who are close to death. You did not reminisce about happy childhood memories, about your family or loved ones, not even about the future you had planned and were going to be robbed of. You thought nothing of your failures, of your achievements and of those you had lost in your short lifetime. No. There was only an eerie calm that flooded over you and entered into every fibre of your being as you slipped into a blissful unconscious.

* * *

 

 

 A dark haze filled your mind, you were not sure what state you were in, you were not conscious that much you knew, but were you sleeping or dead? It was hard to tell, but your mind would not let you question it very thoroughly, each time you tried to consider your state of being, you seemed to forget entirely what it was that you were trying to remember in the first place. You felt peaceful as your empty mind drifted blissfully and unaware through the darkness, occasionally a flicker of light would enter your mind briefly passing by, before fading as soon as it had come.

Time was non-existent within the blackness, but the emptiness of it all was oddly comforting. Each time that strange flicker of light passed by, you felt an odd pull within yourself, an almost dragging sensation as your conscious being fought and struggled to break free of the numbness and push you towards whatever that it could be. The flashes of colour became faster and clearer as you forced yourself towards them, slowly starting to remember something, you were not sure what that was yet, but you could feel it there in the back of your mind, looming there and drawing you nearer.

The tidal waves of numbness tried to prevent you from getting any closer, but you forced yourself forward, the colours came more into focus and soon you were able to pull hazy images into view, although blurred and indecipherable, you sifted through them, trying to make sense of it.

With the images came an unwelcome sensation, bursting through your numbed being, you felt cold, indescribably and painfully cold. It gripped your conscious and you could feel yourself wishing for the mercy of your sated and insentient mind, wishing that you had not gone looking and had instead let the calm of the dark consume you.

Through the painful burn of the unrelenting cold, you felt a blast of warmth heave through you, it was foul and wretched, you were certain that you could almost taste it. With that thought, your mind quickly brought up an image of a woman (perhaps you?) biting into a piece of rotten fruit and gagging against the revolting taste. Yes. That was what it had reminded you of. You were starting to remember. 

You could once taste and feel, you had not always been lost to nothingness, there had been more to you than this state of purgatory and now your mind was helping you to remember. With each image that flashed past your eyes, you slowly started to reconnect with yourself and were reminded of who you were and what had happened to you. You started to push out from the dull fog and reach out towards the light that was your conscious being.

Another blast of putrid, moist heat coursed through you, followed by a jolt of pain that lasted for a few moments before dissipating. Then there was a whisper, so quiet and distant that you could not make it out, but it was loud enough that it broke through into your awakened mind and demanded your attention. You desperately tried to reach for it as dimmed out entirely, being replaced again with the low and calming hum of utter nothingness. This time you would not accept it, you had become aware now and you knew that embracing the dark meant allowing yourself to die which was not something you could do.

More pain shot through you, as brief as it had been the last time, but this time a bright, warm orange colour erupted across your vision, the brightness was confusing and you felt yourself repel against it, the utter intensity of it drawing you inward once again. Your body did not want to face the pain it would seem and so it was using the calm influence of the dark as some form of safety mechanism, to stop your body from fighting and helping it to come to terms with it's fate. It did not want you to suffer anymore.

"C..me...mhmrp." The sound filled your head again, this time more more loudly and with more urgency, but the words were no clearer to you than they had been before. They sounded muffled, as those the owner of the voice were trying to speak through a gag.

You felt a heavy pressure push onto you again, that was the source of the pain you had come to realise. This was when you became aware that you were not only taking back control of your mind from the comfort of the mist, but your body was also following suit. You could feel your limbs, each digit on your hands and the crushing force being administered blow after blow upon your fragile rib-cage. Every inch of you was in agony, each nerve coursed with pain, your lungs burned with the intense heat of a blaze you had not known could even exist. The slow descent back into the realm of reality was by no means a pleasant one, but it was a necessary evil, that much you knew and so you reluctantly welcomed it.

You embraced each wretched breath of air that was forced into your burning lungs, although your body did not wish for you to consent to the violation of another's breath being pushed into your body, you forced the feelings down and allowed it, knowing that it was the only thing that would be able to allow you to regain full consciousness.

"Come...on." You could hear halfhearted words of encouragement swirl through your mind, it was dull and still gargled, but it was increasing in clarity and volume and so you took this as a good sign that you were perhaps going to make it.

Another push came down hard on you and with this your eyes flew open wildly, you must have looked deranged to any on lookers that may have witnessed your return to the conscious world, you immediately went into an upright sitting position, your confused eyes trying to take in your surroundings. After a few seconds though, you could not support yourself and so fell heavily to the ground again, coughing and spluttering uncontrollably. 

Your body convulsed, heaved and wretched as you chocked out the water that had been restricting your airways, your throat felt as though you had been forced to swallow knives and it only worsened with the added pressure of bringing up small amounts of water at a time. At last though, your airways became clear and your lungs inflated painfully with oxygen, your breaths were shallow and frequent, but relief washed over your trembling form as you realised that the worst of it was over. You had made it.

It was unclear to you as to just how long you lay upon the stone covered shore, panting for breath and rubbing your hands over your frozen and still very naked body, but you were certain it must have been a while. The orange light still seemed to obstruct your view as your eyes had continued to adjust to the world around you once more and that is when you realised that mere inches from your face was an extended arm, holding out a burning oil lamp rather closely to your face.

" I was certain that you were a dead one. It was fortunate I found you when I did girl or you would be nothing more than fertiliser."A rough voice spoke from above you, it seemed uncaring, which was odd coming from someone who had gone to so much trouble in an attempt to save your life.

You managed to tear your eyes away from the blinding light and followed the arm holding the lamp up until you came upon the owners face. It was rough and unkind, just as the man's vioce had suggested that it would be. The man's eyes were a dark brown that almost verged on black and seemed to lack any glint of emotion or life, like that of a shark. His thin, pale and pointed face adorned a messy and untamed beard, further adding to the almost crazed appearance that the man seemed to have. Black hair fell across his face, it was damp from having been in the lake and so it stuck to his forehead in thick strands and caused beads of water to drip down his slightly dirty face.

The man noticed you observing him and so he flashed you a wide and predatory grin, flashing a row of rather rotten and blackened teeth, which caused you to almost gag again when you considered the fact that only moments ago, this man's foul mouth had been locked onto yours and his disgusting breath was that which had been pushing into your lungs. You realised just how ungrateful you sounded, this man had saved your life and his appearance really did not change that fact in the slightest. You were indebted to him.

You noticed his dull eyes fall over your naked for, taking in every inch of your goosebumbed covered flesh and quickly your arms flew around you to covered yourself from his prying gaze.

The man chuckled darkly, "There is no need to hide from me, I have seen it all already." 

You shot the man a disgusted glare, before dropping your gaze to the ground, you could not bring yourself to look at his horrid face again.

Through chapped and cold lips you managed to mumble. " Thank you for saving my life. I am grateful beyond words."

The man let out a grunt in acknowledgement to your thanks before he bluntly continued, " Do not thank me, I did not do it for your sake girl. I did it as you are going to be of use to me."

Your eyes widened at his cryptic words and your mind raced with the possible things he could have meant by that statement. You were soon snapped out of it though when the man shrugged himself out of a thin black coat and threw it at you, gesturing for you to put it on. You followed the instruction without hesitation, you were freezing cold and on top of that you wanted nothing more than to hide yourself from his lustful gaze.

"I need to get back to my camp, I was in the company of the King and his soldiers, they will be looking for me." You tried to reason with the man, knowing that the thought of coming up against the King and his men would have been a frightening concept for most sane men. Unfortunately you seemed to have found yourself in the company of a man who did not appear to be fazed by your threat.

" I am aware of your camp, I could see your fires from across the lake. You are far away from the reaches of their protection now."

The man grabbed your wrist and roughly pulled you to your feet and helped to steady you as your still weakened legs threatened to buckle beneath you. Once he was sure that you were able to walk, he started to drag you away from the shoreline and towards the thick lining of trees. You attempted to protest, using your heels as anchors, you did your best to halt the movements, but in your weakened state it was easy for the man to continue to pull you onward without much hassle.

"Do not think that because I have saved your life that I would not readily take it again if you displease me!" The man threateningly growled at you, once again baring his revolting teeth at you.

You managed a quick glance over your shoulder and realised that you were far away from your camp and that the likelihood of Legolas or any of the others saving you were extremely slim. Whimpering slightly you asked in a small voice, " What is it that you plan to do with me?"

The man replied very matter of fact, " I work in the slave trade and a magnificent creature like you is sure to fetch a pretty penny."  

You almost found yourself wishing in that moment that he had not saved you, you thought back to the calm of the darkness and found yourself wishing for it's protective embrace once more. Perhaps you had been foolish to fight it. Whatever was to become of you now, it would surely be the biggest test on your sanity that you had ever had to face, it would no doubt be a fate worse than drowning or even death. You just hoped that you still possessed enough strength within yourself to fight it and make it out unbroken on the other side, that is if there even was another, brighter and more positive side in your bleak future.

 

 


End file.
